


The Oyre Effect: Part One: Culminations

by roboemma



Series: The Oyre Effect [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-04 04:32:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 29,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4125609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roboemma/pseuds/roboemma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Oyre Effect tells the story of ARC trooper A-14 “Ando,” and the exploits of an enigmatic Mandalorian slicer, Vhe’dn Oyre, in the lives of him and his brothers. When Ando is stranded in hostile territory with his prisoner of war, they struggle to become unlikely allies. All original characters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like Mandos, clone OCs, carousing adventure, witty backchat, and shameless romance, you may enjoy this story! :) It was actually originally written in 2009, and recently edited; I was pretty young when I first wrote Parts 1 through 3, and it was my first lengthy writing endeavor, so you can definitely see an improvement in quality as time goes on. I am trying to get it reposted to a couple places, so that I can finally finish out the story (currently writing Part 4) as intended. I adore these characters. Enjoy!
> 
> I should note, this story consists ONLY of original characters. I tend to adhere strictly to canon, and avoid AU at all costs; my characters don't interact with the galaxy in a way that negates the possibility of their existence, so this story should read as though these characters could fit pretty seamless into the background events of things; canon characters will only ever be mentioned in a second-hand, passing reference sort of way. Just so you know!

_Events take place on an unnamed and mostly temperate forest moon, approx. a year and a half into the Clone Wars... the actions surrounding a small skirmish between the clone troopers of the Republic and a small battalion of Separatist-hired Mandalorian soldiers dwindles into a festering impasse, as the Mandalorians are slowly outnumbered and pull away... a small, momentary victory, as the rest of the larger battle takes place elsewhere... while most is settling in this area, one fight remains between a certain ARC trooper and Mandalorian..._

_“Hwuh!”_ Ando jerked his head back just quickly enough to avoid a shock stick being jammed up under the lip of his helmet. He watched the crackling blue electricity blaze past his visor, trailing popping and buzzing noises. He struggled to steady his footing from the dodge.

Ando had been trained by multiple Mandalorians during his decade on Kamino, but the full realization of their tenacity hadn’t registered until this mission-

-and culminated in this, what he estimated to be, five foot Mandalorian woman dancing death circles around him, clearly intent on making him have a _very bad day._

He could hear the woman grunt as she took another wild swing at him, easily avoidable this time. She was clearly exhausted and plainly hadn’t been prepared for a conflict; he had liberated her of her blaster before she had even known he was there. Ando knew it was only a matter of time before she missed a step; his own blaster, also _liberated_ from his hands and relocated to some unseen bush moments before - he gave her credit for that - wouldn’t be necessary.

The Mandalorian wound up for another swing, which Ando prepared to stop. What he wasn’t planning for was the mad yell as she flung her entire body weight at him, pummeling him to the ground. More shocking to Ando than finding himself stumbling to the dirt was the fact that she had even managed to put him there, given how he effectively dwarfed her.

_“Oof!”_ Ando hit the ground hard, the season on the moon having made the dirt solid with under-soil ice. The Mandalorian tumbled off him with her momentum, over his right shoulder. He lost sight of her for a moment and swiftly rolled, scrambling to get to his feet. He flung his head around just in time to see something flying at his face.

“Oh, _fier-!”_

Ando’s head snapped straight back as the makeshift bludgeon caught him right under the chin. He hit the ground again, the dirt once again unyielding. Dazed and in pain, he laid there for what seemed an eternity to him. Then he was aware of the Mandalorian piling onto him, attempting to yank his helmet off. He grabbed her wrists, jerked, and _kicked_ , sending her flying over his head. He heard her yell when she hit the ground behind him. Groggily, he rolled over, forcing himself to his knees. The woman was pushing herself up, injured from the toss, but also right next to her shock stick. He stood fully, and she charged at him with her weapon, yelling in a last ditch attempt. He deftly grabbed her wrist as the stick came sailing at him. He _twisted_ and the woman cried out in pain as her hand released and the stick dropped. He hooked her leg with his foot and pulled it out from underneath her, still holding her wrist. Her cry grew louder, crescendoing into a wail as the weight was added to her damaged wrist. It was over. Ando panted, disoriented still from the hit to his chin. The woman pulled a little against his hold, grinding out whimpers of pain between clenched teeth.

“ _Enough._ You’ve done enough damage already,” he snapped.

Two troopers suddenly pushed through the brush around them, blaster raised and ready.

“Sir! Are you all right?”

“Impeccable timing,” Ando just said, letting sarcasm poison his tone. “Already taken care of. Take the Mandalorian into custody; caught her trying to sabotage our perimeter defense beacons.”

“Yes, sir,” the troopers quipped in unison, hastily approaching and taking her from him, one to each arm, keeping her hands well away from her gauntlets.

“Careful around the armor,” he added. “They like to hide things.”

One of the troopers went to remove her helmet, and she growled, jerking against their hold as they did so. He pulled the helmet off over her head and dozens of long, thin braids, pulled back to a point at the back of her head, tossed around her shoulders. She was furious, feral even, exposing her teeth in a menacing grimace as she fought against their hold for nothing more than an unwillingness to stop. Ando started; she couldn’t have been over eighteen. Then again, he was technically only eleven, and he had seen younger soldiers in this war.

The woman continued to fight as the troopers dragged her in the direction of the base camp. She was staring at him, and Ando slowly removed his helmet.

“I’ll meet you back there in a few minutes,” he said to the troopers.

The woman suddenly stilled, falling completely silent. He watched the anger vanish from her face, instead being replaced by a look of utter shock.

_“Fett?”_ she spoke. It was the first thing he’d heard her say. He stared steadily back into her eyes.

Then the troopers dragged on, and she looked startled by it, breaking his gaze and looking around her, seeming suddenly confused. She stumbled as she tried to gain a foothold on the ground, but the heels of her boots just scraped. Her gaze returned to him, her expression still that white-faced surprise.

So she was unaware of the origins of the clone army. Ando found self-satisfactory humor in her shock. He watched for a few more moments, then turned away and went to collect her things.

The troopers and the Mandalorian vanished into the brush.

_Serves them right, really_... he mused.

**********

When Ando returned to the cleared out area where his troops were regrouping, he felt the waves of exhaustion exuded from the soldiers wash over him. They were all tired. The terrain was almost as much of a hassle as the Mandalorians spread out among the trees around them, hidden from their sight, but not out of their minds. The battle that had taken place in this area was over, but there was an uneasiness about the troops that could not be missed. The retreat of the Mandalorians had been disorganized and... _subtle_... like they had just morphed back into the forest. Ando could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickle under his neck seal; it was like being scrutinized. He felt as though the Mandalorians could see them now, but he couldn’t see _them_ , and he could feel that the troops felt it too.

Ando’s sight fell upon the Mandalorian he had subdued, still pancaked between the two troopers, all sitting with their legs over the side of one of the three gunships. She had been relieved of her gauntlets, and given a nice pair of stun cuffs. Her long braids sat limply over her shoulders.

Ando shifted his hold on his helmet, tucked under his left arm and approached.

As he grew closer, he noted her disgruntled expression, though _disgruntled_ may have been putting it mildly. Multiple troopers around her had doffed their helmets; she would have recognized the _similarities_ between them all by now, and figured out the situation.

The woman raised her head to look him in the face as she caught sight of his boots. She scowled at him. It annoyed him for some reason.

“No reason to act so disdainful, _ma’am_ ,” he said to her. “It’s nothing personal; capture is just an inevitable part of war when you lose.”

“I suppose betrayal is, too,” she hissed at him. She was all venom. “The Republic never ceases to disgust me.”

“Aw, come on, I’m not that bad looking, am I?” he baited her. His tone was mockingly playful, but the intention behind it was not in the least. What he really wanted was to wipe that expression off her face, the expression that said _you are wrong_.

She scrunched up her nose, but seemed to reevaluate him, then just said with distaste, “You’re not my type.”

Ando took her in, looking on the outside to be disinterested. It was an almost unconscious thing for him, observation. To anticipate was to be more prepared, and being prepared kept you alive. She was a Zabrak; small, blunt horns graced her forehead. Her skin was a medium tone, grey and ashen, and freckles broke the palate across her nose. She had chalked a dark kohl around her eyes that made her expression look sunken, but her orange eyes sharp. She was angry, but it was a deep, simmering anger, the kind that made him think she would let it build and build until she suddenly sprang at his neck. She reminded him of a shrewd pack predator. Her piercing gaze never left his face, like she was egging him on. Ando was unmoved by the scrutiny.

“Prepare this gunship to return to the main front. I’ll be escorting the prisoner to Commander Sevets,” he told the troopers sitting on either side of the Mandalorian.

“Sir, passing that way...” one of the troopers hesitated. “You’ll be in a completely comm silent area for most of the flight. You can’t even get out short-distanced bursts. We’re getting some sort of energy disruption that makes it impossible for even our short-ranged comm units to function.”

The comment just reminded Ando again of the deterioration of the situation they were in. The Separatists had somehow managed to block the bulk of the Republic's communications; it made evac impossible to signal for, and even long-distanced planetary transmissions were out of the question. It was a painful reminder of how a simple mineral gathering operation had turned into a slaughter house, with the Separatist army pushing a main front, and their hired Mandalorian help acting as guerrillas to pick the clones off from the sidelines.

“I realize that,” Ando responded. “But there’s a good chance those Mandalorians will be back to retrieve their friend; they’re notoriously loyal to their own kind. This one might know the location of the Separatist tower, and I’m not losing the opportunity.”

“Yes, sir,” the trooper said, and went to stand.

The Mandalorian spoke up. “I’m just a merc. My job is to hunt you, not ferry intel. You’re wasting your time.”

Ando ignored her and turned, looking around the camp. This mission was a nightmare...


	2. Chapter 2

Vhe’dn Oyre itched to cross her arms over her chest, and she would have, if not for the stun cuffs around her wrists. She settled for looking surly and leaning heavily against the crash webbing behind her. She felt the rumble of the gunship engine like a lull. They had taken off moments ago.

They were _clones._ Of course she had known they were clones before she had accepted this mission; it was no secret that the Republic soldiers were cloned humans. _Meat droids_ , she had joked. For all their talk of equality and justice, the Republic still tolerated the use of cloned organics to fight their war. At least the Seps had the dignity to use droids. Vhe’dn could pity clones in the same way she could pity nerfs, oblivious to their lot in life.

Well, she _could._ Past tense.

Her scowl deepened as she analyzed the last hour of her life. She had been shocked when the ARC lieutenant had taken off his helmet. Rightfully so. Jango Fett was _dead._ He had been so for over a year. That in itself was shock enough. Then as she had been escorted back to the camp and seen the rest of the troopers, it had turned into some sick joke as the pieces fell into place. She had been angry at herself, that it had not dawned on her until she had seen dozens of Jangos walking around the camp in trooper armor.

_Clones._

They were _Jango Fett clones._

She was furious. It was a disgrace. They had used Jango Fett’s DNA, a _Mandalorian_ to create these meat droids. Jango Fett had been slaughtered by the same people these soldiers now served. It made her sick.

The ARC looked equally peeved, she noted. He was standing on the deck, leaning against the bulkhead. He had his helmet on, but she could tell from his body language that he was in a similar mood. Again, rightfully; the Mandalorians hadn’t exactly made it easy for the Republic’s troops. Business, like he had said.

She had been hired by the Separatists for detail work. Sabotage. Picking any troops off that they could. Really, just making sure the Republic strike teams didn’t get anywhere. The Seps had something in the woods they were protecting, Vhe’dn didn’t know what. It didn’t matter. The Republic troops couldn’t roll their tanks through the trees, and it made them easy targets for her team.

Vhe’dn let her mind wander to her companions. _Osik._ She hoped she hadn’t botched this whole job. She had been sloppy, so concentrated on taking down their perimeter alarms that she let her back go unwatched.

“So I take it you knew Fett?”

Vhe’dn looked up. She met the t-visor of the ARC’s helmet staring back at her. It would have been unnerving to one who wasn’t used to speaking at a helmet, but to her, it was natural. They looked eerily like Mandalorian helmets.

“No, I didn’t,” Vhe’dn responded, deciding to be civil. “I knew him by name; by _face._ ”

They were kriffing _Fett_ clones.

“I was trained in part by Fett,” the ARC said calmly, almost more to himself than to her. Concord Dawn’s influence was evident in his accent.

It hit a nerve.

_“What?”_ she scoffed. “Fett was Mandalorian! How would you have gotten training from him?”

The ARC didn’t give her the satisfaction of a bristle. He just continued to lean casually against the bulkhead.

“Money talks,” he just said calmly, drawing the syllables out in a way that infuriated her. “Or so I’ve been told.”

“Well I suppose I can’t hold it against you for not understanding how people work,” Vhe’dn just gibed, punctuating with a drawn smile that was more a mocking grimace than anything.

The ARC pushed himself off the bulkhead, and Vhe’dn reacted by settling back into the webbing behind her.

“You better watch your mouth, Mandalorian,” the ARC snarled.

“Am I using too big of words for you?”

His response was drowned out by a loud _boom_ , followed by a violent toss of the ship.

“Woah!”

Vhe’dn was thrown out of her seat and onto the floor. She tried to bring her arms up to break her fall, but the stun cuffs impeded her, and she hit the floor with less grace than if she had _tried_ to ragdoll to the ground. Her already sore wrist throbbed.

The ARC stumbled and crashed against the wall.

“Agro!” he barked, as he went to push himself back up; it was the pilot’s name. “What’s happening?”

“Sir, we’re being fired on by some sort of AD tower!” the pilot shouted back. “I can’t locate the thing; all of our targeting and sensor instruments are down… along with communications.”

“Fierfek,” the ARC muttered.

Vhe’dn stood and back stepped into her seat.

“We’re going to crash, aren't we?” she deadpanned.

The ARC looked at her like he was debating knocking her out. Vhe’dn lifted her cuffed hands in front of her.

“Can you at least strap me in so I survive _your_ mistake?”

The ARC stared at her, and the ship was suddenly rocked again. Vhe’dn clenched her teeth and flung her arms around to cling to the crash webbing behind her.

The ARC stumbled around, barely staying on his feet. He steadied and looked at her, then at the pilot, and back at her. He growled from under his helmet and came over to her, getting her into the straps.

“Don’t try anything, or _you’ll_ be piloting us away from the bad guys,” he said, fishing for her straps.

Vhe’dn gave him a twisted smile. “I _am_ the bad guy.”

The ARC stared at her through the visor of his helmet, then pulled away, throwing the secured straps at her like they were covered in something he didn’t want on his gloves.

“Get us out of this, Agro,” the ARC said calmly to the pilot, retreating to his own side of the ship, strapping in.

“No orders needed,” the pilot muttered. The ship was rocked again violently. Vhe’dn felt her bones rattle.

She’d kill him for getting her into this.

**********

They had been shot down.

Ando groaned and rolled his neck around in a slow circle. He was aware of a crackling sound, but it was distant to him. He could feel himself fighting unconsciousness. He squinted his eyes, attempting to chase away the dark fuzz that threatened to consume his vision. An icon on his HUD was flashing, and it hurt his eyes. He raised his head to look across from him. The ship was dark, but he could make out the Mandalorian across from him due to the flames that licked the infrastructure to the left of where he was strapped in; he noted _those._ It was a weak fire. He also noted that the girl was out cold, or at the very least, pretending to be.

Tenderly, Ando went to release his crash webbing. He pushed himself out of his seat and stumbled to the cockpit. He grabbed the seat for support and looked over at the pilot.

“Agro... anything hurt?”

“Just bruised, sir,” Agro replied. His voice was stronger than Ando’s was, who still felt too dizzy to process the situation fully. He was fumbling with something that Ando couldn’t see. “But, it’s crunched pretty bad up here; my legs are caught and my webbing won’t release.” He grunted and strained against them.

“Hold on, I’ll find something to cut you out.” Ando moved to do so.

“Get the hostage out first; I can hear the flames back there and it would be a shame to melt part of that face,” Agro said. Ando pondered the remark.

“Hit the door controls. With luck, they’ll work, or I’ll be sawing for a while,” he said.

“Everything else is down, so we’ll be lucky if they do,” Agro responded. He hit some buttons.

They had a little bit of time to get out of there if it had been an AD tower that had shot them down. Troops would have to travel by foot to get to them through the trees, and that would take a while.

Ando searched around briefly for a fire extinguisher, but everything had been disrupted by the crash; it was nowhere to be found.

Ando moved to the Mandalorian and checked her vitals; she was still alive. As he leaned over her to release her crash webbing, he looked at her face, lit by the flickering flames. Unconscious, her eyes were closed and her face was blank. Without those horrible expressions she twisted her face into, she wasn’t nearly as frustrating to look at.

There was a shriek of metal scraping, and the ship was bathed in a grey light. The door still worked. Ando straightened a little, relieved.

“Well, looks like it’s our lucky day,” Ando said. He leaned back down to push the Mandalorian’s webbing off her arms. “Only thing that could make this a better field trip would be if we killed some animal on the way down so we could ditch these field rations.”

“If you say so,” Ando heard from the cockpit. “I always knew you ARCs were crazy, but I expected you guys to have more of a stick up your butt about those sort of things. Sir.”

“Some do,” Ando said, wondering why there weren't any Zabrak tattoos on the girl’s face. “But I’ve befriended far too many flight jockeys to not develop a sense of humor.”

This was one of the dumbest screw-ups Ando had ever made; he was embarrassed to have to admit to it. He _was_ under orders to deliver any captured Mandalorian to base, but he didn’t _have_ to follow it, and he’d made the wrong decision, and he’d brought Agro into it. His attempt at humor was hardly his best, but it was the only way he could push his anger at himself to the side in order to concentrate on the now. Trapped in the forest. Away from his troops. _Kriff_.

Something caught Ando’s eye. He glanced down at the floor; the girl’s gauntlets. He paused, then reached down and chucked them out the ship. He grabbed a supply pack about to be consumed by flames and threw it over his shoulder. He spotted a spare DC-15S, and reached down to his side to make sure his own weapons were still in their holsters. They were, and he threw the spare blaster in the bag. He then went to lift the Mandalorian; his sore muscles protested. He shifted his hold on her across his front and paced to the open door.

“I’ll be back to cut you out in a minute,” Ando called.

“Hey, definitely check to see if we _did_ hit something, because meat sounds _good_ ,” Agro called back.

Ando appreciated the way he was avoiding pointing out the fact that this was Ando’s fault.

“It’ll be on you, Agro,” Ando said, and dropped the distance to the ground.

His knees screamed at him when he landed, but he ignored it. He stooped to snatch the girl’s gauntlets from the ground. He walked a good distance from the ship and laid her down. Squatting, he swung the pack around and opened it, fishing for clippers. None. He stood and began to jog back to the ship.

He was about fifteen meters away from it when it began to emit a whirring noise. A second later, the ship exploded.

Ando yelled as he was violently thrown back from the force of the blast.

_“Oof!!”_ He hit the ground roughly, tumbling to a halt on his stomach. He laid there for a few moments.

Ando groaned and pushed his head up, stunned. His mind cleared in a rush and he gasped, looking up at the burning, skeletal remains of the ship.

_“No...”_

Ando pushed himself to his feet and went running desperately for it. There was another, smaller explosion that shot debris all over. He yelled again, and threw his arms up, screeching to a halt. He stared up at the ship in horror.

_“No, no, no, no, no...”_ he chanted.

The noise was unbearable; the crackling of flames, the screech of metal, the crunch of things collapsing. Ando was sure he could hear Agro screaming, but he knew it was his mind just playing tricks on him, playing on the guilt that threatened to consume him. He wouldn’t have survived the blast. And it was Ando’s _fault_.

_No._

Ando shook the thoughts away. He couldn’t let himself turn into a head case in this situation. He had to concentrate.

Ando quickly spun around to look for the girl. He had completely forgotten about her.

She was a safe distance away, but the debris had spread much further. He ran over to her, squatting at her side. She was fine, but still unconscious. He gently lifted her head and felt the bump on the back of her skull. He hoped it wasn’t a concussion. His concern suddenly frustrated him. He had wasted his time getting this thing out of the ship when he could have saved Agro’s life. He died… for this vermin.

Ando looked back to the flames of the ship. It continued to pop and send shards into the air. It was a beacon. A beacon that said, _Come here, Seps; we’re defenseless._ They had to move.

Ando glanced back down at the girl. He debated putting a round through her head; at this point, she was more trouble than she had _ever_ been worth. She wasn’t worth this. Hell, he was projecting. He couldn’t bring himself to shoot her when she was unconscious, not when it was his disgust at himself that was driving his hand.

Ando threw the girl’s gauntlets into the supply pack and sealed it closed. He threw it over his shoulder, then stooped low and hoisted the girl into his arms. She showed no signs of waking up; there was the possibility she wouldn’t make it anyways. Ando looked back one more time at the burning ship.

“I’m sorry, Agro,” he muttered. He swore under his breath. “Didn’t even hit anything for dinner.” The joke fell on no ears, and it felt distasteful the moment it left his lips.

He turned and walked into the trees.


	3. Chapter 3

Vhe’dn jumped, aware of someone touching her head. Disoriented and confused, she shot up, her hand sailing instinctively out in front of her, attempting to knock the unknown person away. The person caught her wrist and she flailed blindly, falling back down onto her back. She couldn’t see, eyes fuzzy from sleep. Someone urged her to be still.

_“Udesii...”_ the person said, and Vhe’dn paused, vexed. The person released her wrist and she pushed herself to a sitting position. She blinked quickly, trying to clear her vision, the ambient light hurting her eyes and sending a pounding pain to her head. She rubbed her eyes and forced them to focus.

The same ARC from before came into view, eerily Jango, crouching in front of her. The sight of him gave her a rotting feeling in her chest, a sunken disdain that was unpleasant on her stomach.

_“What?”_ she asked, questioning she had heard right.

“Take it easy,” the ARC urged. He seemed to be looking her over with a concerned, reassuring expression, but she could tell it was forced. The emotion didn’t reach his eyes. “You suffered a minor concussion when we crashed. You’ve been asleep for a while, but you should be fine.”

So they _had_ crashed.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t want your cargo damaged,” Vhe’dn said sourly. She could feel her pulse in her temples, and it was dizzying. She didn’t _feel_ fine. She rubbed her sore neck.

The ARC didn’t look amused by her lack of gratefulness.

“Don’t make me regret saving your life,” he said, tactfully calm but clearly impatient with her attitude as he pushed himself up and stepped back, away from where her legs could kick him had she attempted to.

“ _‘Save my life’?_ ” Vhe’dn burst out. She regretted it, as it sent shock waves of throbbing pressure to her temples. “You’re the one who put me in this mess!”

“Don’t blame me for you getting caught.”

Vhe’dn looked around at the cleared-out area of hard-packed dirt; sparse, gnarled trees with low canopies blocked them from being seen from the air. She spotted an open bag, a few supplies, the ARC’s helmet and... nothing else.

“Where’s the ship?” she questioned, leaning back on her arms, which she noted were freed.

“Let’s just say _exploding_ wreaked havoc with some of its more important features,” the ARC said, watching her from above.

Vhe’dn paused, and looked around again.

“Where’s the pilot?” she questioned.

“I only had time to get one of you out.”

Dead, then. Just like a mindless, cloned soldier to pick the cargo over the companion.

“…Where’s my gear?” she asked slowly.

She could have sworn the ARC flinched.

“Your... _helmet_ was destroyed in the explosion.” He sounded almost guilty.

Vhe’dn gaped.

_“You blew up my bucket?”_ she screeched, flying to her feet. Her vision honey-combed, the pressure on her head was so much. She swayed, stumbled, and then took a few unsteady steps towards the ARC. He faced her fully, as if steeling himself for a beating he was ready to sit out. She ignored the twin holsters on his thighs, pointing an incriminating finger up at him.

“You-!” Words failed her and she let out an angry, exasperated growl. “Do you know how much those _cost?_ Where are my gauntlets?”

Vhe’dn swung her head around to the supply bag and began to pace for it. The ARC leapt after her.

“Woah!” he called, seizing her arm and yanking her away from the bag as she bent to rummage through it.

“Hey!” she cried, tugging on her arm, but the ARC held fast, tightening his grip.

“Listen, sweetheart, just because we’re stranded out here doesn’t mean you’re not still a prisoner,” the ARC growled.

Vhe’dn scoffed. “I know as well as you that I’m just a liability now. I _am_ a bit confused as to why you didn’t already take the chance to off me when I was unconscious; don’t have the stones, I suppose.” She jerked her arm again, but the ARC still refused to release his grip, scowling down at her.

It turned into a staring contest of sorts, both willing the other to crack. Vhe’dn glared at him and he returned the glare with equal intensity. He was fascinating in a way she couldn’t explain. He was so... _human_ looking with his helmet off that it made it hard for her to picture him as the mindless, order-taking machine he was. For her, he blurred the lines between human and droid, and she found it increasingly unsettling.

But her glare didn’t waver. Moments passed. Finally, the ARC sighed sharply under his breath and brought his free hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Your gauntlets are _fine_ , Mandalorian,” he said, sounding weary. “They’re in the bag. See?” He released her and bent to show her. She was satisfied. He stared at her for a few moments as if reading her reaction, then straightened, towering up again. “Happy?”

“Yeah,” she said, taking a mental step back. “My name is Vhe’dn, by the way, not _Mandalorian_. What’s your designation?”

The ARC stared warily at her. “A-14.”

She put her hands on her hips and sighed dramatically. “Well, A-14, just how the hell am I supposed to get out of here? You managed to not only botch _my_ job, but _yours_ , as well. Congratulations.”

A-14 just stared at her, then stooped and closed the bag, flinging it over his shoulder and pacing away from her, never quite taking his eye off her. Vhe’dn began to notice the chill of the weather, and pulled at the heavy cloak around her shoulders, wrapping the dark material around her face and neck, trying to protect the areas not kept warm by her flight suit. She pressed her palm against her nose, urging it to warm. Her fingertips brushed her forehead, and she paused, feeling around and discovering bandages wrapped tightly around her head. _Concussion_ , she remembered. She glanced over to A-14, who had pulled the bag back over his shoulder and was searching for something.

“I guess I could thank you for patching me up.” Vhe’dn reconsidered. “But I suppose you don’t really have a choice in the matter. That programming… er, imprinting? Suppose I have that to thank for getting me out of that ship rather than the unfortunate pilot.”

_“Trust me,”_ the ARC hissed, “if I could go back, I would have gotten _him_ out first.”

Vhe’dn raised an eyebrow.

“That established, you’re still a prisoner,” he said, fishing in the pack.

“Vhe’dn,” she reminded him.

A-14 pulled stun cuffs from the bag and held them up for her to see.

Vhe’dn gaped. _“Are you joking?!”_

“Keep it down!” the ARC snapped. “We don’t need to announce our presence to every predator in this region!”

“We’re _partners_ in this, pal,” Vhe’dn growled, jabbing a finger at him. “You screwed us both, you are _not_ in charge here.”

“No,” A-14 disagreed, “we are _not_ partners, and this isn’t a discussion. I have the guns. I’m in charge. You’re lucky I’m not cuffing you to a tree and leaving you.”

“Yeah, I’m not really understanding why that isn’t your plan; I could probably get more done in that situation than following you like some ward, anyways. That imprinted protocol that says you’ve got to turn me in has got to be a royal pain in the ass for you. You think I’m going to let you _cuff_ me after the ‘predator’ comment?”

“Yes.”

“What if we get attacked?”

“Don’t worry,” A-14 said, and Vhe’dn could have sworn his expression was smug. “I’ll _protect_ you.”

Vhe’dn glared dangerously at him.

“You either let me cuff you, or I’m putting a round through your head,” he said. “I’m offering to take you with me; you’ll die out here on your own, otherwise. Pick your battles.”

“Take me with you where?” Vhe’dn half scoffed, half chuckled. “We’re going hiking, now?” Something dawned on her. “You don’t have a way out of here, do you? You stranded us in the middle of the forest with no kriffing communications.” Vhe’dn giggled crazily, covering her face with her hands. “This keeps getting better…”

Vhe’dn dropped her hands back down, sobering. “I don’t think you’re in much of a position to bargain. You have no back up out here. What’s to keep me from running?”

“The woods, and you _know_ I know it,” A-14 said, unrelenting. “You have no weapons, and no supplies. You’d die in a day.”

“Someone shot you down,” Vhe’dn reasoned. “That means whatever did it is out looking for you, and I’m on _their_ side.”

“The ship exploded, remember? There will be nothing left to indicate anyone lived,” A-14 just countered. “And even if there _were_ droids out there searching for me, you think they’d stop to make sure you didn’t get caught in the crossfire when they started shooting for me?”

Vhe’dn shrugged. “I’ve seen the droids’ aim. I’d probably be fine.”

A-14 was stony faced. “You really willing to take the risk that someone would find you in time if I left you here?”

Both of them were silent. Several beats went by, then Vhe’dn sighed dramatically and held her hands out in front of her.

“Behind you,” he indicated.

Vhe’dn narrowed her eyes at him. “Pick your battles,” she growled, repeating his earlier words.

A-14 compromised and placed the cuffs over Vhe’dn’s wrists held out in front of her. Then he bent to pick up his helmet, pulling it over his head.

“Don’t expect me to be any help like this,” Vhe’dn grumbled.

“I don’t expect you to be any help in any regard.”

“What are we supposed to do now, now that it’s been established no one knows where in the hell you are? I’m not dying in the woods.”

“I’ll think of something.”

“At least try _my_ gauntlets to see if you can ping anyone.”

A-14 snorted. “And alert your Mandalorian friends to our presence? No thanks.”

Vhe’dn felt suddenly dizzy, and lowered herself to the ground, putting her forehead into one hand, the other having to sit right next to it due to the cuffs. The ARC seemed to hesitate, then reached into one of the pouches on his belt, pulling something out.

“Here,” he muttered, handing a colorless nutrient cube down to her awkwardly. “Not exactly fine dining, but it should make the nausea go away.”

Vhe’dn lifted her brows up high to look up at him without tilting her head back. “You drug me with something?”

“You want it, or not?” he asked curtly, sounding impatient.

Vhe’dn reached up and took the cube. She sniffed it once, screwing up her nose, then popped it in her mouth and chewed. It was awful.

“It’s awful,” she voiced aloud.

“You’re welcome,” A-14 just responded instead.

“It’s awful, but _thank you_ ,” she sneered, staring at the dirt as if it had wronged her.

They stopped talking. Vhe’dn fought anger by remaining focused; she needed to figure out a plan. A-14 dithered around the surrounding area in a way that drove Vhe’dn insane. From the outside, he appeared to be pacing brokenly, but she knew he was working in the confines of his helmet, most likely trying different comm channels and the like; he kept tapping the side of his helmet. He certainly seemed… nervous, if his body language was any indication. Vhe’dn observed him discretely from her location on the ground. He was twitchy. She wouldn’t have expected a clone to get so worked up.

“Hey,” she said, breaking the silence and getting his attention. The ARC stopped pacing and tilted his helmet up to look at her. “Do you - clones, I mean - do you... feel?”

“If you mean physical pain, of course,” A-14 said without pause. “We’re organic.” He wasn’t paying much attention to her.

“No,” Vhe’dn said. “I meant, do you feel pain in an emotional sense.”

A-14 seemed to still, taking her in as if the question was unexpected. He stared at her for a bit, then just looked away as if turning his attention back to whatever was going on inside his helmet, muttering, “Yeah.”

“Like humans?”

The ARC pulled his hand away from the side of his helmet and faced her fully, as if exasperated with her interruptions. “If you’re trying to figure out if calling me names will incapacitate me, try elsewhere.”

He _was_ taking it rather personally. Vhe’dn threw her hands up, palms out as if telling him not to get defensive, but it only looked comical with the cuffs on. “Calm down. I didn’t realize,” she said. She paused. “I’m sorry about the pilot, then.”

Well, she wasn’t really, but she said it anyways. She was trying to stay levelheaded. She didn’t want to put the ARC on alert any more than he already would be. Until she could get a blaster, she was at his mercy, and subject to any of his misguided plans.

She was going to die in the woods with a meat droid. The dumb _clone_ was calling the shots. Okay, so, he wasn’t _exactly_ like a droid. He had emotions.

Great. He’d die crying.


	4. Chapter 4

Commander Sevets breathed a heavy, tortured sigh from under his helmet. No one else could hear his distress; he had switched off all output of sound. It was an escape. He could have screamed, and the troops around him would not have been able to tell. He almost felt like indulging in the fantasy. Almost.

He gazed out at the battlefield spread in front of him. The enormous field was smoking and hazy, the particles in the air comprised of the fine, dry dirt that had been stirred up and the trees that had been days ago burned and crushed to the ground in the chaos. The weak, pre-winter sunlight poured through the dust, making the air look orange.

Sevets was sick of hearing death reports. They kept rolling in with numbers far too high for his sanity. His men were _dying_ out there and there wasn’t a _damn_ thing he could do about it. Sevets itched for purpose. He understood the importance of command, but right now his command had no effect on anything; this battle was a stalemate. It had no goal other than to survive long enough for the comms to come back up. Sevets was an Advanced Recon Commando. He should have been out perusing the forest with Ando, searching for the _blasted_ installation that was blocking their communications; but, Sevets was the only C.O. they had. This engagement was a _roadblock_ , a hill of _bodies_ to make it hard for the battle droids to walk over. They just… waited for communications to resume.

Blast it, _Ando would have just the right smartass comment for this situation that would give me something else to focus this frustration on..._

But Sevets, of course, had no contact with his cohort A-14. At least Ando was out _doing something_. No matter how unforgiving the forest, Ando’s job had to be easier than _this._

******************

Ando set the last perimeter alarm; the rest were scattered among the trees, surrounding the temporary camp. The light of the day was failing. For how peaceful and devoid of life the forest _seemed_ , many dangerous predators roamed the woods. Ando was suppressing many emotions he didn’t feel ready to deal with yet, burying it in routine busyness. His mind kept finding ways to drift back to Agro, though, and then to the frustrating little detail of what he was supposed to do with his ‘prisoner.’ He began to pace back over to where she was; it was difficult to always keep her in sight.

No, he hadn’t known Agro very long at all. A few days, maybe. Ando wasn’t even sure if he liked the man very much, but he had been a solid sort of soldier. And even though Agro had seemed to be chronically ill-tempered, he at least put some of that pessimism into sarcasm that Ando could appreciate.

“You spoke _Mando’a_.”

Lost in thought, Ando looked up just as his feet hit the edge of the ring. He saw the Mandalorian staring at him expectantly from where she sat in the middle of the camp. He paused. What did she say her name was? Right; Vhe’dn.

“What?”

“Before,” she said. “You spoke _Mando’a_.”

Ando regretted the simple word. He removed his helmet and ruffled his short hair, then raked his fingers through it to smooth the curls back into place, calming his nerves and buying time. “I thought it would calm you more quickly,” he stated. He paused, then added, “Should I not have?”

_That was a stupid thing to say._

The Mandalorian- no, _Vhe’dn_ \- looked at him curiously. Then she just focused on the ground again, her cuffed hands sitting in the lap of her crossed legs. She looked defeated, or at least exhausted, her shoulders sagged forward.

This mission was all about credits for her. Unless she had some sort of a grudge against the Grand Army... but Ando was convinced by her reaction that she hadn’t known previously the clones’ connection to Jango Fett. Ando didn’t know what to do with her. Most of him knew that she was the enemy, plain and simple; if she had the chance, she would kill him and be on her way. Whether or not it was personal did not matter in a war. Under that assumption, Ando could not decide if keeping her with him was worth it anymore; she still probably had information that the Republic troops could use, should he be able to get her to them. But there was also the chance that she was now more trouble than she would be help in the end. Navigating the forest without transporting a prisoner would be difficult enough.

A small part of Ando, however, simply felt responsible for dumping a young woman, however capable, in the middle of the forest; it was an undignified way to go. The honorable side of him didn’t want to shoot an unarmed prisoner in the back, whether or not he knew she would take the choice if it were hers. He didn’t know whether to leave her somewhere, mercy kill her, or take her along until she gave him a reason to defend himself, _if_ she gave him a reason. He was going soft.

Ando closed the distance to where she was sitting.

Vhe’dn sighed loudly, and swiftly stood. She blinked rapidly, swaying, reaching for her head. She was still dizzy from the bump on her head, then. She stumbled backwards, careening towards the ground. Ando reached out and snagged her forearm before she fell, overestimating her weight and pulling her back up with a bit too much force; she was significantly slighter than him. She crashed against his armor plates. He grabbed her shoulder to steady her, and also to distance her from the twin holsters on his thighs. Vhe’dn pushed herself away from him, attempting to brush off the front of her armor plates as if to get him off of them.

“Apparently, still a _tad_ unsteady,” she muttered, sounding annoyed with herself. “So,” she snapped, voice strong again. “What’s the plan?”

Ando raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“The plan,” she repeated eagerly. Ando stared at her and she jerked her head impatiently. “To get out of here? What’s the plan? What are we going to do?”

“First of all,” Ando began, shifting his hold on his helmet under his arm and pacing around her, “there is no ‘we.’ ”

Vhe’dn rotated slowly to follow his circling.

“I’m getting _myself_ out of here,” he iterated. “ And I’m letting you come along if you don’t turn out to be a burden.”

Vhe’dn looked at him with calm distaste.

“I can help, you know,” she said. “Take these cuffs off me. We’ll have a better chance of surviving if two capable people have weapons.”

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Ando growled.

“Well, yeah,” Vhe’dn just responded with a laugh, a stretched grin breaking on her face. “You walked right into that one. Pretty sure you can understand how unsettling it is to be a sentient being like me, taking instruction from a clone.”

Ando bit his cheek to temper himself.

“First off,” he began, attempting to keep his calm, “let’s get this straight. I’m a _clone_. The extent of what that implies is that I was gestated in a tube. I’m perfectly capable of everything else you are capable of.” He reconsidered. “No, in fact, I’m _more_ capable.”

His outburst seemed to leave the Mandalorian momentarily without a comeback. She seemed to think the clones were mentally stunted. It was an untrue but common rumor. Ando knew the HoloNews perpetrated a lot of it. It made it easier on civilians to believe they were less than human. It had never bothered Ando much, but the way this girl kept bringing it up… did.

Vhe’dn recovered.

“You have supplies, you have weapons, and you have experience,” she reasoned. “I’d have it, too, if you’d give them back, and we’d both have a much better chance to survive _together_.”

“Forget it,” Ando just snapped. “It may make perfect sense to you, but you’re the one who bumped their head, not me.”

Vhe’dn scowled, the dark kohl around her eyes accentuating the expression. She sat back on the ground with a huff.

“I did this job for the credits. Killing _one clone_ won’t make the paycheck. So let’s work together, eh? Like you said. Think about it.”

She left it at that. Ando was grateful for the silence. He knew it wouldn’t last. He would need to cuff her to a tree before he tried to catch any sleep, and sleep was catching up with him quickly.

**********

“Ow!”

Vhe’dn smacked Ando’s hand away from her face again. Ando let out a frustrated little sound.

“ _Vhe’dn_ ,” he begged, the name sounding funny on his tongue; she had _insisted_ she be called by it, “could you _please_ just stay still?”

“Could you _please_ stop poking me in the eye, then?” she fired back. She rubbed her right eye with her palm.

Ando backed off and let out a hiss; if he hadn’t, he was almost positive he would have suffered an aneurism. It had already been an extremely long night with intermittent sleep that was quickly turning into a very long morning.

“Please,” he ground out slowly, “just let me test your reactions to see if you’re well enough to move, and I’ll leave you alone.”

“I could only be so lucky.”

Ando leaned forward again on his haunches. He placed his fingers over her forehead and put his thumb over her left eyebrow. Her blunt cranial horns bumped his hand, and without his glove on, he was ambushed by a medical curiosity; he had never actually met a real Zabrak before.

Ando pulled Vhe’dn’s eyelid up by pushing his thumb higher up her forehead and put the pointer finger of his other hand in front of her eye.

“Follow it,” he said simply.

He moved his finger from side to side, and Vhe’dn moved her eye back and forth to track it. He decided to try small talk.

“Any reason why you don’t have facial tattoos?”

“Hm?” Vhe’dn questioned lazily. Ando moved to her other eye.

“Zabraks usually have facial tattoos,” Ando murmured, concentrating on her pupils. He knew a lot about many different species, but most of his knowledge about them was centered around the best ways to incapacitate them.

Vhe’dn shrugged. “I’m Mandalorian first. Everything else comes second.”

Ando dropped his hands away from her face and braced his forearms on his knees.

“No dizzy spells?” he asked.

“No.”

Ando reached around her head and began to strip the bandaging away. For some reason, he enjoyed how on every pass, the strip of cloth would send Vhe’dn’s braids swinging. Ando hadn’t been around much long hair. Vhe’dn tried to reach around to the back of her head to feel the bump, but the stun cuffs stopped her.

“You seem to know a lot about first aid,” she observed.

Ando stood, pulling his gloves back on. “I know a lot more than first aid. I’m a field medic.”

“Convenient,” Vhe’dn muttered, seeming to roll the new information over in her mind.

Ando pressed on. “You should be well enough to travel, then.”

Vhe’dn craned her neck to look up at him from where she was sitting. “What?”

“The plan,” Ando clarified, sitting back down in front of her.

“Oh.”

He may as well level with her. “Here’s the situation,” Ando explained grimly. “I don’t have enough supplies to split between the two of us; I don’t have enough supplies for _me_ , as it is, and even less food and water.”

“Joy,” Vhe’dn grumbled.

Ando ignored her. “So, our priorities are finding supplies, and getting out of here. Our best chance for both is at that AD tower that shot us down.”

Vhe’dn just stared at him. “You _do_ understand that _shot you down_ part, right?” she said.

“Yes, yes I do.”

“You _really_ think you’re going to be able to just dance on in?”

Ando stood, taking his helmet with him. “That’s what I was trained to do.”

“What about me, huh?” Vhe’dn got to her feet. “Where you going to leave me when you’re busy playing Jedi?”

“Doesn’t matter. Are you coming with me to the AD tower, or would you like to pick out a tree to get friendly with?”

“I coming,” Vhe’dn said, tossing her hands up in defeat. “Let’s just get going.”

Ando could tell the Mandalorian was paying a considerable amount of attention to the supply pack on his back. He had no intention of letting her near it.

“All right, then.” Ando put his helmet on, then rested his right hand over the grip of his pistol on the same side. He jerked his head in the direction of the trees. “Start walking.”

Vhe’dn gave him a venomous look, but it was all she did to spite him. She began to walk out in front of him, and he followed.

“And I’m supposed to, on good faith, trust you to know we’re going in the right direction?” Vhe’dn scoffed over her shoulder.

“You don’t really have any other options,” Ando quipped. 

It was easy enough territory to navigate; there was little to no ground vegetation, just that brown, packed dirt and those thin, bare tree trunks that they had to weave in and out of that didn’t blossom into canopies until several meters above their heads. Ando was grateful for the sky cover.

After some time, the Mandalorian started singing quietly, a melodic, catchy, rhythmic song that was nothing like the music Ando had ever heard. He wondered if she was just stupid, or whether she was doing it to get under his skin. The lewd lyrics made him blush furiously, but he said nothing. Moments passed. Finally, he couldn’t pretend to ignore it.

“What are you _doing?_ ” he snapped, trying to drown out the previous line of the song.

Vhe’dn rotated her head slowly until she was looking at him over her shoulder as she walked. She cocked a defensive eyebrow.

“Singing?” she answered, looking at him as though asking what his problem was.

“Well, _don’t_ ,” Ando ordered, thankful for his helmet hiding his face. “We don’t need to make any unnecessary noise. I don’t need you alerting anything to us.”

Vhe’dn turned her head back around and he heard her snicker evilly at his expense. Ando shook his head and continued to follow.


	5. Chapter 5

If the ARC wasn’t going to make the trip easy on her, then Vhe’dn would do her best to return the favor. 

Evidently, the clones weren’t just mindless, fleshy machines; how closely they neared being human, Vhe’dn didn’t know. She at least knew that they could feel frustration, lots of it, but then, she was trying very hard to make it that way. If she had no choice but to stick with the ARC for now, she was going to make the most of the time and pry for information. She had a way of getting people to talk. Her grandfather had a nice way of saying she could seem “not all there” at times; people had a tendency to get loose-lipped around crazies.

She could play this ornery clone trooper, easily. Vhe’dn stopped walking suddenly, turning around to look at the ARC.

“I can teach you the lyrics, if you’d like, Fourteen,” she said, referring to the song she had moments before been singing.

A-14 didn’t stop, waving his hand out in front of him in indication for her to keep moving. “ _No thanks_ ,” he said, his voice full of acid. Vhe’dn turned back around, a satisfied little smile forming across her lips. She wiped it from her face and resumed walking when A-14 caught up to her, attempting to fall into step at his side; she knew it bothered him.

She pushed her luck a bit too far, and she felt the business end of one of the ARC’s blasters suddenly pressed to the back of her neck; the cold metal made her shiver, and she flinched away, stumbling out ahead of him again.

“Okay! I’m going.”

“Why are you testing me?” the ARC snarled. He hadn’t lowered the blaster; its twin was still secured in the opposite holster.

“Oh, calm down,” Vhe’dn just dismissed, waving her cuffed hands back at him. She kept walking out ahead of him, ignoring his further reaction.

Vhe’dn looked down at her arms. They looked depressingly bare without her gauntlets, and the stun cuffs didn’t help. No matter; she’d be rid of them soon. She had counted on it when she had submitted to them. She flexed her fingers, feeling A-14’s eyes judging her every twitch.

“So...” she started, talking out in front of her, “does everyone in the army know you as A-14?”

He didn’t answer right away. “No,” he said finally. Vhe’dn waited.

“Besides ‘Fourteen’, too?” she queried.

“Uh huh,” he said curtly.

She persisted, despite the fact that she could tell he didn’t wish to be having a conversation with her. “Does that mean you have an actual name?”

“That’s private,” he snapped.

“Well,” Vhe’dn probed, “what is it?”

“Did you even hear me?”

“You want me to have to refer to you as ‘clone’ all the time?”

“Don’t refer to me as anything.”

“Okay, clone.”

There was a beat.

“It’s Ando,” he said. His voice was gruff, annoyed, but it betrayed a hint of... sheepishness?

Vhe’dn snorted. “Ando?” she laughed. “Where did you get a name like that?”

She felt him bristle, and glanced back at him.

“I’m not making fun of you,” she assured him. “I’m curious.”

“And what would make you think that I should care one way or the other if you’re making fun of me?”

His accent was delightful, she had to admit. It was thickly laced with Concord Dawn influence, and it reminded her of home, back when she was so much younger. He seemed to have picked up his pace, and Vhe’dn was finding herself having to add a hop-step into her canter to keep ahead of him; he was considerably taller.

“What makes you think I should care if you care that I’m making fun of you?” Vhe’dn fired back.

It was stupid; but it seemed to work. Ando ground to a halt, stopping his pressing speed, letting out a burst of frustrated noise. Vhe’dn stopped and turned fully to face him.

“Will you be quiet if I tell you?”

“Probably.”

He spoke. “It was during a live-fire training exercise,” he explained curtly. “I was very young. When it ended, I was disoriented. A couple training sergeants approached with my own. They were congratulating me on a job well done.” His voice softened, just barely. “The sergeant was grinning and slapping me on the shoulder. He turned to mine, and said something that ended in ‘just like a little Mando.’ I didn’t know what that was, but my sergeant seemed to approve. I… liked that. But my ears were ringing so badly that I just heard ‘Ando.’ It stuck.”

Vhe’dn just stared at him; she hadn’t expected that answer. Any of it. It was discomforting to think of him as an impressionable kid.

“You mean,” she began, “your name literally comes from the word ‘Mandalorian?’ You have to see the irony in that.”

Ando said nothing.

Attempting to clarify, she asked, “You didn’t even have a name until then? How old were you?”

Ando paused, seemingly trying to remember. “Physically, about six.”

“ _Six?_ ” Vhe’dn was surprised. “You were in live-fire exercises when you were six?”

She had come on too strong. Ando closed off.

“You got what you wanted.” Ando jerked his head, telling her to walk. “Now, stop talking.”

Vhe’dn complied; for a moment.

“You really were trained by Fett, weren’t you?” she thought out loud as they walked. “You weren’t lying.”

Ando didn’t respond behind her, but he didn’t need to. 

“Jango never really was a good Mandalorian,” Vhe’dn reasoned. “He wasn’t a good team player.”

“I thought you said you didn’t know him,” Ando reminded her.

“I didn’t. Still,” Vhe’dn shrugged. “Hurts. I can definitely see him in you.”

“You just said you never knew him. You couldn’t have known enough about him to discern that. Don’t act like you know me.”

“Do you even know you?” Vhe’dn probed. “Must be hard to be a carbon copy of every other soldier in the army; suppose that makes altercations pretty minimal. Where do you fit in?”

Instead of answering, Ando responded simply, “I’m the Grand Army of the Republic. Bred to be the best. I don’t have to worry myself with trivial things like that. I know who I am.” It was a rote response.

Vhe’dn let it go. She didn’t think he would shoot her, but there was no reason to push things too hard. She only needed to toe the line _just_ enough, to be able to judge what she was up against. 

**********

The terrain had begun to change. The air had gotten just slightly warmer, and small amounts of ground vegetation had started to pop up. The dirt was darker, looser, and the trees had gotten progressively thicker, the leaves beginning to take on a sickly yellow-green color, as opposed to orange and brown. It was a welcome change to the completely barren woods that were not far behind.

But now it was night, and it was cold again. Vhe’dn watched her breath puff into clouds in front of her eyes. She yawned, then returned to scowling.

“The only reason I’m going along with this is because I need your supplies,” she grumbled.

She stared across from where she was sitting cuffed to a tree, trying to make out Ando’s shape in the dark. All she could see was the reflection where the weak, sparse moonlight glinted off his t-visor and plastoid plates in places. She was aware of him leaning against a similar tree, trying to get some rest. He seemed bored with her, as if he were already too accustomed to her moodiness to pay any attention anymore.

“So I’ve heard,” Ando murmured lazily. Vhe’dn envied him the ability to fall asleep so quickly.

The boredom was all consuming. Vhe’dn cursed her impatience, and cursed the way the muscles in her back screamed from the day of walking. She longed to stretch out, but the way she was attached to the tree made it impossible. She couldn’t get the twinge out from between her shoulder blades. Her back plate made it worse, pushing her posture forward.

Vhe’dn groaned loudly.

“Do you never _shut up?_ ” Ando snapped, clearly frustrated. “You said you were worried about predators, so why are you announcing our presence to every one of them?”

“Well, it’ll be _your fault_ you’ll have to die defending your damsel because you chained her to a _tree!_ ” Vhe’dn shot back angrily. “They obviously didn’t teach you anything about treating ladies in that fancy training facility.”

“Sure they did,” Ando chided, “but that doesn’t apply to you, does it? And _you’ll_ regret it when you find out the _hard way_ that I won’t be sticking around to rescue you.” Ando settled back down against the tree, legs splayed out in front of him.

“You’ve proven to be quite a burden so far,” Ando finished. “You think you’d be a bit more grateful.”

“I wouldn’t be such a burden if you actually took advantage of my expertise and let me ping for comm signals; I assure you, the computer in that gauntlet of mine is far more sophisticated than your Republic tech,” Vhe’dn replied, decidedly calm.

Ando _‘ffffed’_ in mock amusement.

“ _Expertise?_ You’re just a kid.”

Vhe’dn had a hunch that Ando was purposely trying to push her buttons. “Please, you can’t be that much older than me; I saw your face. Were _you_ as competent at my age?”

Ando gave that obnoxious single syllable laugh again.

“More than competent,” he chuckled. He oozed boastfulness.

“Enlighten me, then; what was life on Kamino like?”

“Collecting information for the Separatists, are we?”

Vhe’dn growled, frustrated.

“I don’t think you really understand our business together, Ando,” she sang. “ _Part-ners._ This is a mutual coalescence of resources for a common survival.”

“What are you, starting a government?” Ando mocked.

Vhe’dn scowled. “Equals. Allies.”

Ando pushed himself up straighter.

“ _Allies?_ ” Ando laughed. “Since when were the Republic and the Separatists _allies?_ ”

“I’m not a kriffing Separatist!” Vhe’dn yelled. “For being Fett’s flesh and blood, you sure don’t know much about Mandalorians! Or maybe you just inherited the stubbornness; _that_ seems apparent. I can’t imagine what a whole army of you would be like.”

“Mandalorians are pretty simple to understand,” Ando explained. “Thugs who decided to be thugs together. You’re a gang; a cult.”

“What, and your generals aren’t?”

“The difference is,” Ando said, jabbing an incriminating finger her way, “is that while you Mandalorians are selfish by nature, our generals are selfless by discipline.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you displace a culture, isn’t it?” Vhe’dn hissed. “Or have you forgotten that the Republic sponsored the effort that left us unwelcome on our own homeworlds?”

“That was not -! You were obstacles to progress, your people were terrori-”

“Why aren't you angry?” Vhe’dn burst, laughing at the end out of stress. She was frustrated, lonely, and tired, she knew, but she couldn’t help but pursue understanding what it was like to be this clone soldier.

Ando said nothing. He didn’t even shift, and Vhe’dn had a hard time making out the shape that was him. She was suddenly cold, despite the heat systems in her armor.

“How do you feel about the Republic condoning the use of a slave army?” she demanded, seeking clarity.

“I’m not a slave,” Ando said coldly.

“Really?” Vhe’dn laughed harshly. “Why’d you join the army, then?”

Ando was silent again.

“Why do you fight for them, Ando?” Vhe’dn prodded. “Why do you fight when you’re used for cannon fodder, when the people in charge see you as the answer, the _equivalent_ , to a droid army? Flesh and blood. Now, I don’t exactly know how _human_ you clones really are, but that has _got_ to grate with you. You guys were mighty convenient, and the blind eye people are willing to turn in times of pressure is often the most telling mirror. Really, all the Separatists are are people looking for a different life, a chance to escape what they see as corruption and stagnancy. For all you know, it could end up better than the Republic for this galaxy. Maybe _they’d_ treat you right, if you were to join them. Have you ever thought of it?”

Ando shot to his feet and crossed the camp to her, and for a moment Vhe’dn thought he was actually going to lash out at her; but he didn’t.

“I don’t need to listen to your ideas of a better future, _Mandalorian_ ,” Ando seethed.

Vhe’dn was chained to a tree beneath him, but she didn’t back down. “It’s _Vhe’dn_ , and in the end, I don’t really have to care _who_ wins; Mandalorians will continue on, as they always do. I’m only saying, Ando, for your own benefit; if you could choose sides, would you ever consider joining the Separatists? If they promised you your freedom?”

_“No.”_

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Why not?”

“Well, for starters, _I’m no traitor!_ ” Ando shouted, jerking his thumb toward his chest. “You think I’d _want_ to be shooting at my brothers?”

He called them “brothers.” His choice of word was telling, and it fascinated her.

“What about neutral territory, then?” Vhe’dn bullied on, taking an informal tone. Oh, this was tepid ground, now. What was she getting herself into? “Like... Mandalorian space?”

Ando audibly stilled. _“What?”_

“What if you were to go someplace neutral? The Mandalorians; the real ones. It’s in your blood, if there ever were a Mandalorian blood, and they don’t ask questions. You’d be your own boss, then. Let the rest of the galaxy destroy itself.” What was she _doing?_

“Are you suggesting I _desert?_ ” Ando’s tone was ice.

“How can you desert if you never joined?”

“Ever heard of drafts? Is that any different?” Ando spat.

“Yes. Very. People who are drafted have benefits. They’re real people. You... are you even a citizen? What happens to you after the war is ended? Do you know?” Vhe’dn knew _she_ wanted to know.

Ando seemed to be struggling to come up with an answer.

“The GAR is the best life I could ever have hoped to attain,” he said finally, very clearly, and with conviction, as if to leave no question as to if he really meant what he was saying or not. “I have the luxury of _surety_ , and that’s not something most beings ever get to have. I’m the _best_. No question.”

Vhe’dn was beginning to wonder whether those sorts of responses were hardwired, or conditioned. The answer was an important one.

Ando crossed back to his side of the camp, away from her eyes, and settled down for sleep. “I’m tired. Stop. Talking.”

After a very, very long time, Vhe’dn slept.


	6. Chapter 6

“What do you do for fun, Ando?”

“You mean you aren't having a blast right now?”

“Color me shocked, the clone can crack a joke.”

“Very funny,” Ando sneered, stepping over some fragile ferns that had seed pockets he was almost positive were toxic. Ando had been fruitlessly all morning attempting to dissuade the girl from talking; she made him uneasy in an unconventional way. Beyond the fact that she was an enemy, she somehow managed to pick away at every sore thought and doubt he hardly knew he had.

She could _read_ him. She seemed to believe she knew something about him that he didn’t know himself, and it for some reason had started to make him wonder if she really _did_. Ando wasn’t positive at times that Vhe’dn was even _all there_ in the head. But she _knew_ she made him uneasy, and, to his dismay, seemed to take delight in it.

“But really, Ando, it’s not a volatile question,” she continued. She practically _bounced_ with an energy he couldn’t understand. One minute, she was all calculated moodiness, the next, she acted as if they were _talking buddies._ “I can’t wean the Republic’s next strike point from you telling me you like sabacc. Do you?”

“Never tried it,” he answered, expressionless, though with his helmet on, Vhe’dn was none-the-wiser.

“You wouldn’t like it,” she chatted on. “Cards are infuriating.”

“Mm,” Ando grunted in response. He was sick of this walking routine. Despite his mental protests, he found his mind wandering to his brother Damper’s enthusiastic, boastful stories of all the things he’d won off the aforementioned game.

Ando felt Vhe’dn’s mood shift again suddenly. She spun around to face him as she paced backwards.

“You know, it wouldn’t _kill_ you to humor me,” she said.

Ando felt a guilt rise, which quickly frustrated him, because he wasn’t aware of where it came from, or why. He buried it.

“Who knows, it very well _might_ ,” he muttered.

“Would you give up on that whole ‘I’m going to kill you’ thing?” She rolled her eyes. “I keep trying to pound it into your thick skull: I’m not going to turn on you now. I can’t seem to hardly get past that helmet, though.”

“You’re bargaining. That’s what prisoners do.”

“I can do anything I want with impunity,” Vhe’dn trilled. “That’s my right as a free Mandalorian.”

Ando stopped, bristling. “Listen, sweetheart, there’s only so much more of this that I can take.”

“So much more of what?” Vhe’dn feigned ignorance.

“This Mandalorian propaganda and all the offhand comments about your excessive amounts of _freedom_ ,” Ando said, trying to keep his frustration in check while letting the girl know he meant business. It obviously didn’t work, because Vhe’dn just grinned.

“Jealous?” she asked, her voice a lilt.

“Of you?” he scoffed. “Hardly.”

He started walking again. Vhe’dn did as well from her position ahead of him, still facing him.

“Well if you’d just _talk_ to me I wouldn’t give you so much _osik_ ,” Vhe’dn grumbled. “You don’t have to ignore me like-”

Something was wrong.

Ando closed the distance between them in three large steps, clamping his hand down on her shoulder to get her to stop moving. He strained to hear, barely aware of how Vhe’dn had stopped talking.

“What is it?” she asked quietly.

Ando gave a harsh, _“Sh!”_

To her benefit, Vhe’dn was silent. He let go of her, but didn’t move away.

_Everything_ was silent, and it had fallen suddenly so. The slight chattering, the quiet rustling of small creatures had just ended, as if everything in the woods was trying to hide. Vhe’dn shifted nervously. Ando’s hands slowly and almost unconsciously found their way to his blasters. He drew them, a familiar, spiky feeling invading his stomach.

_“Oh!”_

Ando spun as a flock of avians startled to his left, taking off in a flurry of noise, right before Ando caught sight of what was coming, and his HUD finally sent him an onslaught of kinetic warnings.

_“Get down!”_ he roared, throwing himself into Vhe’dn. He heard her cry out as he body slammed her to the ground, just as the huge creature soared over their heads in a snarling mass of claws and fur.

_“Oof!”_

They hit the ground hard, and Ando heard the creature land in front of them. _Move._ Adrenaline and training took over.

Ando had barely the time to push himself off of Vhe’dn and raise his blaster for a single shot. _Nexu_ was all that registered before it launched itself back at him, agile and _deadly._ It caught him square in the chest, snarling, sending him flying. A blaster flew from his hand. He screamed as he was crushed to the ground, winded, meters from where he had moments ago been lying. He flailed as he was blinded by the mass of fur atop him, trying to fire off shots with his remaining pistol. The pack on his back restricted his movement. He was yelling; or maybe it was Vhe’dn?

He was batted hard by the nexu’s claws, and his armor made a horrible screeching sound as it attempted to resist it. _Jaws._ He rolled just enough to avoid being devoured and buried a few shots into the nexu’s flesh. He didn’t manage to get it in a vital area; it just screamed and hit him again; he felt his other blaster leave his hand. He was trapped.

_This isn’t how it’s supposed to be..._

The nexu suddenly arched, screaming, and leapt off him. Ando heard Vhe’dn yelling something, a battle cry. Ando rolled and scrambled to his feet. He forced air to move through his lungs.

Vhe’dn had picked up his fallen blaster and was proceeding to attempt to bury a whole charge into the nexu, now bounding at her. Ando spun, frantically searching for its twin. _There._ He sprinted and snatched it up, rounding in time to see the nexu overtake the young Mandalorian, sending her screaming angrily, sprawling to the dirt. Ando’s stomach lurched as he raised the blaster to fire at the creature. _Fierfek,_ he shouldn’t have cuffed her...

The nexu rounded on him again, frothing in its anger and pain. He kept firing, and it kept coming.

“Just _die!_ ” he yelled as he was sent once again tumbling to the ground to avoid it. The nexu was unbelievably tough. It turned once more and Ando could see that he wasn’t going to be able to get his blaster around in time before it was on him.

He braced as the nexu pounced and was shocked as it was sent yelping, tumbling to the ground in front of him in a heap. He watched as four more blaster shots were buried into it from behind him. The nexu whined once, then stopped movement all together; it was dead, finally. Ando scrambled back from it, heart pounding in his ears. He got to his feet and turned.

His sight fell on Vhe’dn. She was standing, meters from him, arms raised and holding his pistol two-handed, the only way she could with the cuffs on. It was aimed down at the dead nexu. Her breath came out of her in puffs, her eyes lit.

“Play dead,” she said, all ice, still looking at the creature. “ _Good girl._ ”

A new nervousness rose in Ando’s gut, and his grip tightened on his own weapon.

But when Vhe’dn finally looked at him, her aim hesitated and all he saw was a scared kid looking back at him. She looked exhausted, but she was _alive._ They both were. Something seemed to click, and they both hitched, bringing their blasters up to point. They had automatically begun a slow, circling pace around each other, blasters at the ready. _Hell_ , was he going to have to shoot her? Why didn’t he just do it?

Suddenly, Vhe’dn just let her arms fall limply in front of her; she exhaled out a heavy breath. After a reluctant moment, Vhe’dn gently tossed the blaster out on the ground in front of him. Ando took a few cautious steps toward her.

“You saved me,” he said slowly, forcing his voice not to shake. It instead came out with an unintended huskiness.

Vhe’dn just gave a small, shaky laugh.

“Just returning the favor,” she said. She seemed to hesitate. “You okay?”

“Yes.”

He inched closer to her, still wary, but more lost and confused than anything. He grabbed the discarded blaster off the ground without taking his eyes off her, and holstered them both. Ando let out the breath he was holding. He stilled suddenly, feeling his stomach chill as he stared at her. Vhe’dn narrowed her eyes in question, as if she noticed the change.

“What?” she asked.

_“Vhe’dn...”_ was all he said, failing to know how to indicate. _Ah, fierfek, no..._

Vhe’dn looked thoroughly confused, then something dawned on her face. She reached up to the side of her neck, then drew her hand away to stare at the blood there. She looked up at him, pale in the face.

_“Oh,”_ she murmured feebly.


	7. Chapter 7

“You are one lucky _di’kut_ ,” Ando sighed.

Vhe’dn blanched, and gave a guilty grin. “ _Ori’jare’la_ , eh?”

Ando glanced up from cleaning the cut on Vhe’dn’s neck and met her eyes. “Hm?”

“It means I was asking for it,” Vhe’dn explained.

“I don’t speak the language,” Ando responded, looking back to his work. “Just the few offhand words. But, ‘yes.’ ” He was knelt on the ground in front of her. In an odd way, playing medic soothed him; he was good at it. It was routine.

At least, it was soothing when the wound he was treating was small and fleeting. Ando swabbed the cut on Vhe’dn’s neck and watched the blood bead and appear again almost instantly. It looked nasty from a distance, but in the scheme of things, it was really just a scratch intent on making a mess. He had very little bacta left, so he just pressed the cloth down on the wound and fumbled for bandages. Vhe’dn winced.

“Stings a bit,” she hissed.

“Good,” Ando said, and drew out the bandages. He secured them over the cut as deftly as he could, knowing it probably hurt more than he gave it credit for. His bare fingers brushed the skin of Vhe’dn’s neck as he drew away, and she shuddered. In the cold air, bumps quickly erupted over her skin. She reached up to inspect his bandaging work.

“You’re good at that,” Vhe’dn approved.

Ando began to pack up. Vhe’dn didn’t move right away.

“Look,” she began slowly, as if mulling her words over as she went. There was something about her tone of voice that told Ando to _actually_ look at her, and he stopped to do so. Vhe’dn continued on, as serious and levelheaded as he had ever seen her. “I just want to get out of this forest alive. Whatever contract I had with the Separatists is about botched, now. If I have to work with you to get out of here, then so be it. This thing?” she said, wagging a pointer finger between herself and him, “It was just business. But not mine, anymore. I can worry about ‘sides’ when we aren’t in the wilderness; right now, I just need to get out of here alive, and I’m willing to forget the fact that I was paid to dislike you.”

She had handed him back his blaster after the fight. Ando had been consciously ignoring that fact since. He didn’t know _what_ to make of it, or how to respond to what she just said. Ando offered her her wrap instead, and she snatched it gratefully from his hands. He watched her struggle to try to drape it over her shoulders for a few moments, her hands still cuffed together. That same guilt that seemed to be becoming increasingly more commonplace rose up in him again. He surprised himself by reaching out and stopping Vhe’dn’s hands. She gave him a curious look.

“What?” she asked.

Hardly thinking, Ando reached to his belt, then brought his hands back to the cuffs. He took them off. Vhe’dn stared at him, then down at her hands, then back at him. Her hair was all askew from the fight with the nexu; her thickly applied eye make up had begun to smear and her nose was a bright red from the cold. The expressions she commonly made were atrocious. Her company was grating. She was a mess, but somehow Ando managed to see past all of that, at this moment; he found her distinctly _pretty_ , he noted with distress. Then Vhe’dn smiled brightly at him and it turned to alarm.

“What’s with the change of heart?” she inquired.

Ando found himself struggling over words and reasons. He’d never felt more incompetent, and it was infuriating. He wished he were wearing his helmet. He recovered with a beat, trying to treat the situation how he would around Damper.

“Well, like you said: I don’t want my damsel getting offed. It’d be bad for my reputation,” Ando said.

Vhe’dn feigned flattery by placing limp fingers over her chest plates.

_“Aw...”_ she cooed, “he _does_ care.”

Ando grimaced, and rocked back on his ankles. He straightened and stood, sacrificing a little water to wash Vhe’dn’s blood off his hands. “This doesn’t mean I’m not still in charge. And I’m not giving you a weapon.”

Vhe’dn stood after him, throwing her wrap around her shoulders. She brought her hands up in mock surrender.

“We’re making progress,” she conceded. She put her freed hands on her hips. “You seem to be in a good mood now that I’ve been hurt. That do it for ya?”

Ando pulled his gloves on and smoothed his hair back.

“Maybe I’m just hoping you’ll be quiet now, since you’ve seen I was _right_ ,” he said.

“Sounds like _guilt_ , more like.”

“Try ‘adrenaline high.’ ”

“Right.”

“You really _were_ lucky,” Ando said earnestly, feeling he was losing control of the conversation.

“So were you, that you dropped that blaster right away,” Vhe’dn commented. “Some might say it had something to do with the Force. It was _meant to happen_.” She was teasing.

Ando snorted. “I’m not giving you a weapon.”

“I wasn’t asking for one.”

“I thought you Mandalorians had some big Jedi-grudge.”

“Some do,” Vhe’dn sighed. “But a person can’t refute the fact that the Force can blow a hole in a wall any more than they can pretend they _didn’t_ just get shot in the head with a blaster bolt.” Vhe’dn smirked. “Naw, the Force is the real deal. The Jedi just take things far too spiritually, when it’s really a very literal thing.”

Ando raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “And you know the Force better than the Jedi, right?”

Vhe’dn shrugged. “I’m just giving you my view on the whole thing from reports I’ve read. Official, _scientific_ studies. Psychology records,” she explained. “Fascinating stuff.”

“Why were you reading _that_?” he asked.

“I like to know things,” was Vhe’dn’s rote response.

“We should get moving,” Ando interrupted the trail. “Try to salvage as much of this day as possible.

He stooped to snatch up his helmet and placed it over his head. Vhe’dn took point like she always did.

He could probably still change his mind about the cuffs. He didn’t even know if he still planned on turning her in at the end of this; it had been a stressful few days. Well, he had to. If she had anything that could even remotely help his brothers… she certainly didn’t _seem_ like she knew anything, though. She _seemed_ like hired muscle. He was compromising.

The threat of small talk always loomed. Ando had no place to follow, and no training to fall back on. Damper would have been so much better at this.

_Don’t overthink it._

He caught up to Vhe’dn and found himself comparing her to Castilla, the only other significant civilian female in his lifetime that he could recall. He decided the only thing they had much in common was that they were just that: female. They were so starkly different from each other; there was hardly a correlation in their behaviors. There wasn’t a correlation in _anything_. Castilla was a Nautolan, for one, and tall, almost as tall as him; she would have dwarfed Vhe’dn.

What were they, _allies?_ Hardly. But… Vhe’dn had given him the blaster back. Maybe she thought she needed his help. Maybe she was just biding her time. It seemed like an awfully big opportunity to pass up, though.

“Are you jealous of the Jedi, Ando?” Vhe’dn wondered out loud.

It was a… difficult question. Ando had never really considered it, because pondering the question seemed too close to insubordination.

“I’m... not sure,” was his response.

Vhe’dn was rubbing her wrists.

Ando reconsidered, then decided to try a tactic that he had picked up from Vhe’dn.

“Are you?” he asked her.

“Well, it’d be damn useful to be able to rip doors off their jams and float things around.” Vhe’dn sobered. “No. No I’m not. I want to be able to feel what I want to feel. They’re not allowed to. It’s dangerous for them, or something.” She looked around at him. “You understand, right?”

Ando suddenly wondered if he did. He felt scrutinized. Vhe’dn seemed to pick up on his hesitation.

“I mean, if I’m angry, I want to be angry,” she elaborated. “Hell, sometimes I want to be angry even when I’m _not_. If someone dies, I want to cry; that sort of thing. I wouldn’t let anyone tell me I couldn’t feel.” She paused for a moment. “It’s only human to feel, right?”

She wasn’t one, a human. She was talking about him. He didn’t quite understand why.

An expression touched Vhe’dn’s eyes for a fraction of a second before she turned her head away from him. It was that same look that Castilla would always give him, like they _knew_ he didn’t get it. Maybe they were more alike than he thought.

**********

The change in Ando’s mood was almost tangible. Vhe’dn decided that nothing could have gone more _right_ than getting nearly mauled by a nexu; it had done wonders for camaraderie, if that was what she could call it. Ando’s helmet bounced slightly where it was clipped to his belt as he walked. It was a simple thing, but Vhe’dn took it as a sign. Leaving it off was a courtesy he wouldn’t have given her had she not bled all over him.

Vhe’dn found herself slyly observing things about his face when she could. She decided he didn’t look much like the holos of Fett that she had seen. This ‘Fett’ was far younger, early twenties probably, and his face was different in the way that identical twins could look completely unalike depending on how they carried themselves through life.

He was fascinating. Vhe’dn didn’t know enough about the rest of the clones in the army to judge, but if they were anything like Ando, the Kaminoans were miracle workers. He was like an elaborate droid, but he _wasn’t_ a droid at all. All indications pointed to a functioning human being with real emotions, real distrusts, real biases… real _flesh_ ; a stubble had appeared all over Ando’s cheeks and jawline.

It was an inconvenient turn of events, really. In a way, the humanity of him was heartbreaking. Ando was effectively a slave. Whoever had been in charge of his training had conditioned him so thoroughly as to disillusion him to his blight. Vhe’dn had faith that Ando knew how he was being used, but he obviously had been told to be okay with it.

Vhe’dn was beginning to not be. If the hunch she was beginning to feel was correct, then this war was very wrong, indeed. She brought her hand up and found herself unconsciously investigating the bandage on her neck.

“Something wrong?” Ando asked.

Vhe’dn glanced behind her. She could have sworn she saw some sort of objective concern in his eyes.

“Oh,” she said, bringing her hand down. “No.”

“You sure?”

“You know,” Vhe’dn mused, taking the opportunity, “I was expecting mindless, meaty droids, not…” She fixed him with a hard look. “…people.”

“Why did you give me the blaster back?” Ando asked instead.

Vhe’dn stopped and turned to look at him.

“Like I said earlier: self-preservation,” she said. “I’m seeing this one through. I’m still hoping, at the end of it, that you’ll let me walk free. I’m giving you a reason to. I’m calling a truce.”

Ando looked like he was struggling with something. “And you trust me to just let you go? Why? What happened to the hostility? What about what I am?”

Vhe’dn pondered it for a moment. “Maybe… because maybe you’re not to blame. Maybe the people who made you are.”

“Everyone’s made. Only difference, I was grown in a dish.”

It almost made her flinch. “What are the other clones like?” she burst. She couldn’t keep herself from asking any longer. “Are you different?”

“Well, I received special training as an ARC; it really de-”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Ando seemed to hesitate. “We can think for ourselves, if that’s what you’re asking. No, we’re not all alike. We’re not programmed; we’re trained.”

The implications were a bit horrifying. Vhe’dn tried not to let her discomfort show on her face.

“I thought slavery was illegal in Republic space,” she murmured.

“It’s… not like that.”

“Mm.” Vhe’dn turned around and started walking again.

She felt Ando flare slightly, responding to her simple provocation.

“You’re impossible,” he said, frustrated. “You don’t ever really hear the words I say. Seriously, do you just spend all your time thinking of new and amazing ways to annoy me?”

It was impressive how quickly their exchanges could deteriorate.

“ _Me?_ ” Vhe’dn exclaimed. She scoffed. “Try dealing with _you_.”

“ _Me?_ ” Ando mimed. “What did _I_ do?”

“Well, for one, you’re so _ornery_ ; you can hardly take a joke, and you never relax, and your mood is so bad I swear it could be contagious,” Vhe’dn listed.

“You hardly know me!” Ando denied.

“I think I’ve got a pretty good picture,” Vhe’dn sneered.

“That’s not me at all,” Ando grumbled.

Vhe’dn smirked at him. “Prove it.”

“What?”

“Prove that you’re not such a stiff,” she challenged.

“I don’t have to prove anything to you,” Ando parried.

“Of course you don’t _have to_...” Vhe’dn goaded.

Ando waited a few moments. “But?” he prompted.

“ _But_ ,” Vhe’dn continued, “you’re kind of stuck with me for now, so you might as well indulge me. And denying my request would just confirm how much of a reg-book you are.”

Ando bristled, and Vhe’dn smiled.

“You’ll just have to take my word for it, sweetheart,” he muttered, and picked up his pace. Vhe’dn quickly fell behind.

“Don’t go using your superior height to avoid this, Ando,” Vhe’dn teased, jogging to keep up with him.

“Is it working?” he asked, not looking down at her.

“No.”

“Well, you’ll tire eventually.”

“Ando!”

“I think I am,” Ando announced, stopping.

Vhe’dn looked at him curiously. “Am, what?”

“A little bit envious of the Jedi,” Ando continued on, as if the conversation had been taking place seconds before. The way his thought process jumped around reminded Vhe’dn of a child sometimes. She just stared at him, unsure of what to say; he kept catching her flat-footed.

“I’m supposed to be the best soldier the galaxy has to offer,” Ando explained, sounding a bit winded, “but all the talk about the Jedi generals couldn’t have prepared me for what they were really like. Things come so easily to them. They’re better than us.”

He seemed almost defeated. Vhe’dn felt compelled to make him feel otherwise.

“Maybe,” she mused. “But if you take the Force away from them, what do they have left? It’s like a sixth sense that they come to incorporate into all their other ones. If they lost it, they wouldn’t know how to work the other five without it.”

Ando seemed to ponder her statement. He shook his head. “I’m just not sure.”

“That’s probably a good thing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated with two chapters today! Don't miss the previous one! Still aiming to update once a day for a while. Thank you very very much for reviews/comments!


	8. Chapter 8

Ando was coming dangerously close to actually _appreciating_ Vhe’dn’s company. She still made him uneasy, but she had an energy to her, and it was calming to know he wasn’t the only one who could look out for approaching danger.

“D’you get those alarms set up?” he asked her as she pushed her way through some bushes; night was quickly approaching, and the forest had almost completely filled in. The trees and thick bushes sported rich green and purple leaves.

“What’s up with this moon’s terrain? It changes every two hours of walking,” Vhe’dn observed loudly, ignoring his question. She walked up to him and he raised his eyebrows at her.

Vhe’dn rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I set them,” she sighed. “It’s about the only tech I’ve been able to touch in over thirty hours; trust me, I set them up with _relish._ ”

Vhe’dn flopped down to the ground with an exaggerated exhalation. She looked tired, but she was tough. She had hardly complained about the almost impossible pace they had been keeping all day, and she hadn’t mentioned the cut on her neck since it had happened.

Ando double-checked the perimeter alarms anyways, just to make sure they were actually operating. When he got back from his task, Ando reached around his shoulder to release his pack, kneeling to the ground. He opened it, rummaged around, and pulled out one of the girl’s gauntlets; it was covered in wound wires and ports. He looked up and met Vhe’dn’s intense stare. He looked back to the gauntlet, spun it once, catching it on his fingertips.

“Here,” he said, tossing her the gauntlet. Vhe’dn caught it, looking surprised. “Ping for signals.” He placed a hand on one of his blasters. “Try anything funny, though, and we’ll have problems.”

Vhe’dn stared down at the gauntlet in her hand with a sort of reverence. Finally, she looked up at him with a bright smile. She laughed, and he found he didn’t dislike it.

Vhe’dn shimmied backwards to prop herself up against a tree, fastening the gauntlet around her left arm and feeding the cable up her sleeve. Ando watched intently as she keyed open a shutter and a flurry of blue and yellow holos projected about her arm, information scrolling past her eyes. Vhe’dn hit a few commands and the holos shifted. She sighed contentedly, tapping the screens. It reminded Ando of a HUD. He moved and sat down across from her.

“What are you doing?” he asked her.

“Searching for connection signals...” Vhe’dn murmured, eyes darting around the information. She glanced up at him. “There are none, currently.”

“Can you check later?”

“If you let me keep it, it’ll let me know if it picks anything up. Here.” Vhe’dn scooted forward, and Ando leaned over to see what she was indicating. “See? It sees the AD tower that shot us down.” She tapped the screen once and the map scrolled out, displaying directions and pinpoints. “We’re close.”

Ando glanced up at Vhe’dn’s face, but she didn’t seem to notice; she was focused on the screens. She was lit up blue by the display, amplified by the dying light. She seemed desperately attached to the thing. It was her element. Ando wondered how good she was at this.

“Here,” Vhe’dn said again, and tapped a holo control with her fingertip. She grinned at him before turning back to the screen, music beginning to play quietly as she whipped through a dozen new commands.

“Where are your parents?” he asked her suddenly.

Vhe’dn avoided it. “I’m not a kid, you know.”

He assumed this was about him. He braced his arms on his legs.

“You know, I’m not going to burst into tears if you mention your parents,” he murmured.

Vhe’dn looked guilty. Slowly, she tapped a control. A picture of whom Ando assumed were her parents formed up. It hadn’t been what he had been asking, but…

They looked happy; youthful. It was a side of life that Ando understood little of. He pinpointed Vhe’dn’s grin on her father almost instantly, though she had inherited her mother’s tough stare and height. On closer inspection, the woman wasn’t a Zabrak.

“Are they here?” he asked, suddenly realizing they could very well be on the planet with them.

“Dad’s somewhere on the rim smuggling slaves to freedom,” Vhe’dn sighed.

Ando waited. “And your mother?”

“The woman in the holo was my adoptive mother, but, uh, she’s dead; long time ago. I don’t know where my blood mother is; never met her, and don’t care to,” Vhe’dn stated, expressionless. The picture waved away.

“I’m... sorry,” Ando stumbled over what to say. He had no idea what it was like to _have_ a mother, let alone lose one.

“What, did you kill her?” Vhe’dn looked at him and laughed. “Then don’t apologize. There’s no need.”

Ando felt his cheeks heat up. _Way to be tactful._

She stabbed at something with her finger and everything fell dark. Vhe’dn turned her head to look at him, face very close to his.

“What do you want more than anything else, Ando?” she asked him. The question was out of nowhere, but Ando had grown accustomed to her scattered thought pattern. Ando rocked back slightly, supporting more of his weight on his haunches now. He found himself casually observing the row of silver studs lining Vhe’dn’s ear. He decided to humor her.

“To eat at a fancy restaurant,” he stated.

Vhe’dn laughed. “What?”

“With really big portions,” he indicated with his hands.

Vhe’dn laughed again, and Ando found that he was beginning to smile, too.

“You know, I had a really good answer lined up, but I might just have to change it, because that sounds good right now,” Vhe’dn laughed. “I’m sick of those flimsi cubes you call food.”

Vhe’dn smacked her forehead, then winced and shook her hand from its connection with her cranial horns.

“The nexu!” she cried. “Why didn’t we take any of the meat?”

“Too dangerous to build a fire to cook it, anyways,” Ando mused. “I can try foraging tomorrow.”

“Mm.” Vhe’dn looked disappointed, and rapped on her thigh plate with her knuckles.

Ando stood and paced to his own corner of the camp, leaving Vhe’dn to resume work on her gauntlet. As he settled, he realized just how drained he was.

Ando shook awake suddenly with a violent jerk. He had dozed off. His sight fell on Vhe’dn, staring back at him from across the camp, her face lit up blue.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he responded, rubbing his eyes and shifting upright. Fierfek, he felt like an idiot. He watched Vhe’dn warily, wondering whether he should cuff her overnight or not.

As he sat, he could feel himself dozing off again. He wasn’t comfortable falling asleep when Vhe’dn was still awake, though it was irrational to feel he’d be safer either way. He relented to the fact that he couldn’t fight sleep just sitting there. He pulled a blaster from its holster and concentrated on spinning it lazily around his finger, playing.

“Could you teach me?”

Ando’s hand clamped down on the butt of the blaster, ending his performance. He looked up. Vhe’dn had an eager expression on her face, and she killed the holos on her gauntlet. Ando raised an eyebrow at her, but was unsure as to if she could see it from that distance in the growing darkness.

“You’ve never thought to learn it before?” he questioned.

“Bravado isn’t really my style,” Vhe’dn lied.

“Sure it’s not.”

He rolled the idea over in his mind. He moved to stand. Vhe’dn hopped up and approached him.

“It’s pretty simple. Not much skill in it,” Ando said, flourishing it simply. He pulled the clip from the blaster and pocketed it. Vhe’dn didn’t protest.

Ando showed her his grip and Vhe’dn watched intently. He flipped it down, demonstrating, then turned the blaster the opposite direction, spinning it slowly so Vhe’dn could observe. He held the blaster out to her. Vhe’dn took it and began to experiment.

“No, more like this,” Ando said, pushing her fingers out of the way. She tried again. Ando chuckled.

Vhe’dn scowled at him. “Oh, I’m sure it’s _hilarious_ when this is probably all you do in your spare time,” she teased.

“Actually, I spend most of my time frozen in a tank,” Ando mentioned offhandedly. The blaster tumbled to the ground. Ando went to snatch it up.

“You had it, why’d you let it go?” He smiled, straightening and holding the weapon out to her again.

Vhe’dn just stared up at him without taking it back.

“Frozen in a tank?” she asked.

Ando paused, suddenly regretting the statement.

“Chill down,” he explained shortly. “For when I’m not deployed.”

Vhe’dn gaped.

“Chill down?” she just repeated, looking appalled. “They put you in a _stasis?_ Like a criminal?”

“It’s not like that. It’s just storage, between missio-”

“ _Storage?_ ”

Vhe’dn laughed breathlessly, then sobered.

“Thanks for my gauntlet back,” she said quietly with a small smile, then turned and retreated to the other side of camp. She settled down.

Ando watched her quizzically, wondering again what he’d said wrong. He settled back into his resting place. He found himself flourishing his blaster again, far more theatrically than before. He knew Vhe’dn was watching, and it compelled him.

**********

_What was she doing?_

She hadn’t slept well the previous night. Vhe’dn tapped her foot impatiently in place on the ground where she stood; whether her annoyance was directed at herself or her traveling companion, she wasn’t quite sure.

She was getting involved in Ando’s wellbeing. The more she learned about him, the more she felt compelled to know. The more she knew… the more she wanted to change things. She had gathered by now that the clones were human; _just_ human, and so the way they were being used made her sick to her stomach. Vhe’dn had heard the army numbered in the millions. She hoped that wasn’t true. What would happen to them all after the war? The clones were bred from birth on Kamino to be soldiers. How would they know how to do anything else? Were they completely clueless to civilian life? Had they been taught anything but to shoot? Maybe they would become a glorified security force. Maybe they would all be chilled down until the next galactic conflict. Maybe they would become nothing.

The more Ando shared, the more Vhe’dn felt spurred to action, and _that_ was what was so wrong about this. She could not get involved; she wouldn’t. She would just have to push it all out of her mind. She could still practically feel where he had touched her fingers through two layers of gloves.

This had gone way too far. She rung her hands, then heard a rustling noise behind her and spun.

Ando pushed his way through the bushes, pulling his helmet off.

“This warmer weather is a relief,” Ando remarked, tone approaching jovial. Vhe’dn ignored it.

“Find anything?” she questioned, voice coming out much more gruffly than she had intended.

“Not yet,” Ando sighed, swinging his arms around himself, stretching, “but I will.”

He moved past her with that barely-there smile on his face. It was pleasant, and Vhe’dn felt her frustration mounting. She viewed his sudden comfortable attitude around her as a personal failure: it was indication of her meddling, her commitment. She hurried after him.

“Confidence is great and all, but this is _foolhardy_ ,” Vhe’dn grumbled. “I never actually expected you to find any food in this forest. You’re wasting your time; _my_ time.”

“Well, you don’t _have_ to have any,” Ando said distractedly, looking up at the trees.

“Well, I don’t _intend_ to, because there won’t be any.” Vhe’dn scowled. Did he really deserve this?

“You wait.”

His newfound optimism was infuriating. Vhe’dn mentally kicked herself; it was her fault.

Ando paced under a tree and tipped his head back. She watched as he leapt and grabbed a thick branch, hauling himself bodily up into the leaves, disappearing. It didn’t look like it was an exertion in the slightest. In fact, he was almost _eager_.

“Ando!” Vhe’dn called, staring straight up into the leaves. She couldn’t see him and he didn’t answer, but she could hear him rustling. She made a loud, exasperated noise. “Ando, come on!”

He still didn’t respond.

“Fine!” she called, scowling. “I’m going on without you!”

Vhe’dn turned, intent on retreating, when Ando suddenly swung down straight in front of her face, hanging upside down from a branch, their noses almost touching. Vhe’dn let out a startled squeak and jumped back.

She growled loudly at him, flinging her arms out in front of her in anger, expelling energy. “You’re lucky I didn’t punch you!” she yelled.

“Calm down, killjoy,” Ando just murmured, expression very calm. He held out a fruit to her. “Come on.”

Vhe’dn was startled to silence, and she slowly reached out to take the fruit. Ando smiled just a little bit to one side of his mouth and raised his eyebrows slightly, then dropped to the ground, twisting to land on his feet. He continued on walking past her, munching happily on his own fruit. Vhe’dn watched him, mouth open a few centimeters. She shook herself and stared down at the fruit, analyzing the small flower still attached to the stem. She grimaced at herself and plucked it off, tossing it over her shoulder as she moved to follow him.

“Here,” she said, holding the fruit out to him as she jogged up to his side.

Ando stopped for a moment, cheek full. “That one’s yours.”

“I’d feel kind of like an idiot eating it after what I said,” Vhe’dn conceded.

Ando just shrugged. “Don’t underestimate me next time, then.”

He kept on walking without taking the fruit. Vhe’dn realized her face was hot.

**********

It had begun to rain.

Ando felt guilty donning his helmet to keep dry as he watched Vhe’dn sit, clearly disgruntled and extremely uncomfortable in the rain. She kept pushing loose hairs from her face, her fingers getting caught in the mess atop her head. The kohl around her eyes was almost all washed off by now, and she looked far more fresh-faced without it. Finally, she let out an aggravated growl and stood. She stomped over to him and Ando pushed himself to sit up straighter.

“Do you have a knife?” she asked grumpily.

Ando narrowed his eyes at her; he realized suddenly she couldn’t see his expression. Vhe’dn scoffed anyways, seeming to interpret his silence.

“I’m not _asking_ for it, I just need you to cut something,” she said impatiently.

“What?” Ando asked slowly.

Vhe’dn reached behind her head and grabbed the mass of braids in her fist. She held it with both hands and indicated the space in between them, close to her head. “Right there.”

Ando stared. “Are you serious?”

“Very.”

Slowly, almost lamentingly, Ando reached up to Vhe’dn’s hair. He ejected the knife from his gauntlet and pulled it through the braids. One by one, they released. Vhe’dn stared at the wad of braids in her fist, satisfied.

“Thank you,” she said, and began to move for the line of trees.

“Where are you going?” Ando asked her.

Vhe’dn didn’t turn. “To bathe.”

She pushed her way through the brush and disappeared. The small lake - pond, really - wasn’t far, but it still made Ando nervous; he wasn’t about to go looking for her, though.

Ando slumped, puzzled. He apparently couldn’t do anything correctly. If he was disgruntled, Vhe’dn was unrelenting, and if he was tolerant, Vhe’dn was angry. He thought she _wanted_ to call a truce. Ando’s mind couldn’t put any of it together. He was constantly off balance. The feeling was unsettling and wildly unfamiliar. He once again had no idea where they were.

It was a challenge; that was the only way that Ando could rationalize it.

**********

The water was frigid, so Vhe’dn settled for splashing the icily refreshing water over her face, then leaned over the pool to dangle her now free hair into it. She growled, frustrated, then gave up and waded in. She hissed the whole way, finding it difficult to breathe when she finally submerged her shoulders. She dipped her head back.

As she grew numb, Vhe’dn began to calmly ponder her dilemma again. Would Ando come looking for her? She briefly considered what she would do, then dismissed the thought. No, Ando was a _gentleman_ underneath it all. He was too naïve to be anything else. Vhe’dn sighed, attempting to flex her fingers. She began to bounce back to shore. The air was far warmer than the water, despite the cold drizzle. She toweled off with the inside of her wrap, and began to suit up. She dragged her fingers through her hair, experiencing a moment of confusion when her fingers exited the tangle before she expected them to. She had never had her hair this short. She trudged back to camp, carrying the rest of her gear with her.

**********

Ando drowsily drifted back into consciousness as he grew aware that Vhe’dn had returned. She had her back to him, and Ando’s sight fell on the large tattoo over her shoulder blades, partially hidden under her tank, before her flightsuit was pulled over it and it vanished. Vhe’dn turned, looking over at him.

“You awake?” she asked, loud enough for him to hear were he conscious.

“No,” he replied. The side of Vhe’dn’s mouth twitched up slightly.

“Well, good,” she said, bending to snatch up her armored vest, pulling it on and shifting it into place. She moved to fasten the sides.

“We should be at the AD tower by later tomorrow,” Vhe’dn said, twisting to see what she was doing. Her still-wet hair fell over her face, beginning to form dark, messy waves, similar to the texture of his own hair. Vhe’dn straightened.

“Ready for the action?” she asked him.

“ _Anything_ to escape your haranguing me every waking moment,” Ando said. “And every sleeping one, too.”

“You have a plan for when we get there?”

This was where things got complicated; well, more complicated.

“I’m making it up as I go,” he said, shifting. He needed to assess the actual tower. “I don’t know what to expect.”

Vhe’dn sat. “It may even be unmanned, in which case you might be able to patch in directly and hail some ships.”

“I suppose.”

“Like you said, making it up as I go. We’ll have to wait to see what we’re up against,” Vhe’dn conceded.

_What we’re up against_. Were they _we?_ Was Vhe’dn really up against anything? If there were droids at the tower, it would be easiest for her to just alert them, turn him in, and get on with things. Now she was talking like she would be storming the place with him. Was he supposed to trust her word? _Would_ he, if she asked him to?

He didn’t know the answer.


	9. Chapter 9

“What do you _mean, ‘A-14 is missing?’_ ” Sevets snarled, on the razor’s edge of keeping his temper in check.

“Sir,” the trooper implored, “he was on his way to deliver a Mandalorian hostage to you and never returned. We lost contact.”

Sevets forced the cold ball of fear rising in his throat down to settle in his stomach. He closed his eyes, taking a calming breath, then opened them again.

“Where do you think he is now?” Sevets queried, very slowly. The noise of the battle began to ease away from his hearing.

The trooper was standing very rigidly, as if expecting Sevets’s wrath. “Sir, he flew over Beta Zone; he could be anywhere.”

A Jedi would have been so useful; of all the battles...

“Sir?” the trooper questioned. “Would you like me to send a search party?”

Sevets let out a heavy breath.

“No,” he said, expressionless. “We can’t afford a wild chase. Ando can take care of himself. He’s not going to roll over that easily.”

The trooper hesitated for a moment.

“Yes, sir,” he finally said with a nod, and retreated from him.

Sevets turned and braced on the console in front of him.

_Stay alive, you idiot..._

**********

Vhe'dn would deal with Ando if and when the time came. She would let things take their course. And… she didn’t quite know what that meant.

On one hand, she was still prepared to fight Ando, whether with fist, knife, or blaster, for her freedom, if it came down to it. On the other hand, she was finding herself struggling to not notice how good he looked in the cut of his trooper armor. Vhe’dn tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear. She glanced over at Ando, walking off to the side of her.

“Where were you planning to go after this?” Ando asked quietly, surprising her by voicing her own question. His wording was particular: it did not promise an intention to let her go.

“Um… I don't know. I suppose I might go try to find Dad,” she replied, choosing her answer carefully. She was hoping to invoke empathy. 

Ando raised an eyebrow at her; he did that a lot.

“Is he lost?” he pried.

Vhe'dn stepped over a protruding root. “He's _always_ lost. But, fortunately, his ship's kind of his home, so technically, he's always right where he's suppose to be, too.”

Ando looked over at her. “Do you live with him?”

“Naw,” Vhe'dn dismissed. “I don’t really live anywhere. Sometimes I travel with my grandfather, but he’s not a guardian.”

“Why not?”

“I don't need him to be. I can take care of myself.”

Ando gave her a knowing look and said nothing, glancing away.

Vhe'dn bristled. “What?”

Ando caved instantly.

“Come on, Vhe'dn,” he accused. “Every kid wants parents to look after them. That's just your pride talking.”

“Oh, I suppose you'd know all about that.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe definitely _not._ ”

“You’re just covering. I'm not as dumb as I look, sweetheart.”

“You had me fooled, honestly.”

Ando gave her an _oh please_ sort of look, but didn’t react to the jibe.

“And I’m not a kid,” Vhe'dn added, ticking things off on her fingers. “And I’m good at taking care of myself. It’s easier that way.”

“Sounds lonely.”

“It can be. But I'm good at that, too. I figured you’d be used to being lonely.”

“Funny thing about having thousands of brothers…”

Vhe’dn nodded, and smoothed her hair.

“Where're _you_ going after this?” she returned.

Ando sobered. “Wherever I'm told to.”

“Doesn't that get old?”

“No.”

“Can I just say, 'I'm not as dumb as I look, sweetheart' ?”

Ando scowled at her.

_“Touchy…”_ Vhe'dn tsked.

“You think you're smart…”

“I _am_ smart.”

Ando scoffed.

“Why do you do that?” she asked.

“Do what?”

“Shut yourself down just as soon as you start talking about the army.”

“I don’t do that,” Ando simply deflected.

“Yes, you _do_ ,” Vhe’dn accused, flaring. “Why are you so afraid to talk about it?”

“I’m _not_.”

“Don’t you ever question why you’re doing this?” She practically begged for him to. “Why you go where you’re sent and do what you’re told, and don’t get anything out of it other than the security of a meal that disappears just as soon as you’re sent to a combat zone?”

They had stopped walking.

“Why you agree to everything and it doesn’t even cross your mind that you can dissent? It’s human nature,” Vhe’dn implored.

Ando wasn’t happy.

“No, what _you’re_ talking about is treason; _again_ ,” Ando accused.

“How can you be treasonous to a government you aren't even a citizen of?” Vhe’dn burst. “I’m trying to help you!”

_“No,”_ Ando snapped, “You _think_ you’re trying to help me. Why do you meddle so much?”

“You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

“Avoiding what I’m saying. Avoiding the fact that there’s the possibility that I’m right.”

Ando stared daggers at her.

“Ando, you’re going to _die_ out here, and soon. Everything in your life is replaceable. You’re replaceable, the pilot was replaceable, every piece that makes you and your life up is an expendable cog. The Republic churns you out like meat shields to trip up the droids so they don’t reach Coruscant and the citizens can enjoy their ignorance just a little bit longer. They don’t care if you live or die; no one you’re fighting for cares.”

“And I suppose you do?” Ando asked with a harsh laugh.

“Yes!” Vhe’dn shouted. 

There was a beat, and for a moment, an odd expression flashed across Ando’s face. Then, as soon at it was there, it was gone, and Vhe’dn watched him darken and close off.

_“No,”_ Ando said icily. “You have no _idea_ what I fight for. You have no idea what it’s like to be me, and grow up like I did, and do the things I’ve done.”

“Ando...” Vhe’dn started.

“No,” he interrupted her. “Is this what you wanted to hear? That I know I’m going to die a brutal death one day and no one’s going to miss me or care? That my existence is to kill and destroy? That I’m just an insignificant speck that will be here and then be gone with nothing to prove I was once a part of this?”

Vhe’dn could feel her cheeks heating up. “I-”

“I’ve got news for you, sweetheart: everyone’s forgotten eventually. I will leave my mark on this galaxy, as this army as a whole. The galaxy will remember this war, remember this army. I won’t be remembered any other way. And I am not so self-absorbed as to need the singular attention: it doesn’t exist, for anyone.”

“So, you’re welcome,” Ando snapped, finishing his speech. “You got what you wanted. So why don’t you just live your life, and I’ll live what’s left of mine?”

It stung. Ando began to walk away from her.

“Ando,” she called after him, pleading. “Ando, I’m sorry!”

Ando turned once more.

“No, Mandalorian, you’re not. You take any chance you can to chew me out. Everything in between that is just killing time for you.”

“It’s not like that,” she said.

Ando scoffed, then took a few steps toward her.

“Yeah, it is.” Ando had sobered, and his words came out as both bitter and tired. “But, look; despite our different lives, despite our choices, we’re both right here, right now, _alive._ So how much did it really all matter?”

He turned back around, ending the exchange.

“You can call me ‘Vhe!’ ” she called after him. Her voice quieted to a level which Ando was too far away to hear. “My friends call me ‘Vhe.’ ”

**********

Vhe’dn had remained silent for the rest of the walk, her pride dented. Things had completely backfired on her. She had underestimated Ando, and it made her no better than anyone else. She felt like a fool.

As they stared at the AD tower from a safe distance in the cover of the trees, Ando simmered beside her. He had a hand resting on one of his blasters, ready to draw it and put a bolt in her head if she called out.

“It’s a base,” Vhe’dn whispered, “not just an AD tower.”

Ando pressed something on the side of his helmet.

“They’ve got battle droids...” he murmured. Vhe’dn watched them pad back and forth in front of the façade.

“So what’s the plan?” Vhe’dn said, turning and bracing her back against the tree. She crouched, and Ando followed suit.

“You’re staying here, and I-”

“Well,” Vhe’dn interrupted him, “I was thinking this: technically, I’m on their side. I cuff you, and walk up there with you as a prisoner offering, and we just walk right in. Then, once we’re inside, I set you loose.”

Ando was quiet for several beats.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” he finally deadpanned. “I agree with everything except for the part when you were _talking._ ”

“Ando, come on,” Vhe’dn groaned. “I’m _sorry_ about earlier, but try to be reasonable-”

“This isn’t about earlier,” Ando snapped, “and I’m being more reasonable now than I have been this whole fiasco. I am _not_ going to let you cuff me and hand me over to the Seps!”

“Oh, what did I ever do to you except try to shove a stun stick in your face? I won’t be handing you over; I’ll make sure to stick right by your side the whole time.”

“Oh yeah, that’ll make me feel safe. Then you can _watch_ when they execute me.”

“Well, what sort of plan do you have, then?” Vhe’dn bristled.

“I don’t, yet.”

“Are you just going to run up there, guns blazing? Ando, we have to get _into_ this place, not just leave some unsightly carbon scoring on the front door.”

Ando was silent, but Vhe’dn couldn’t see what was going on behind his visor.

“Trust me? Just this once?” Vhe’dn asked. “I know how dumb it sounds.”

Moments passed. Finally, Ando sighed.

“I’m going to die...” he chuckled madly, pulling his pack out in front of him. “I’ve gone insane.”

Vhe’dn smiled. “No, we’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

Ando pulled out a DC-15S, stun cuffs, and Vhe’dn’s other gauntlet, putting his own pistols in the pack in their place. He stared at her, his nonverbal threat clearly portrayed even from under a helmet. Slowly, he handed her the items. Vhe’dn only had a moment of hesitation when the blaster hit her hand. It passed; nothing was how it was anymore. She made sure to put on the gauntlet with as little relish as she could, then flicked something on the blaster, setting it on the ground beside her. She looked up at him.

“I’ll try to spare you as much embarrassment as I can,” she said. “Um... turn around.”

Slowly, uncooperatively, Ando stood and turned, holding his wrists out behind him. Vhe’dn fumbled with the cuffs.

“Maybe you can just leave them unsecured,” Ando muttered.

“And have you holding them perfectly concealed the whole time? Sorry, that’s too much of a risk.”

Ando cleared his throat. “If I die, I’ll kill you.”

“All right,” Vhe’dn exhaled, bending to snatch up the blaster and to sling the pack over her shoulder.

“Oh,” she said, and indicated to him with a finger to bend down. He hesitated, then complied, and Vhe’dn pulled the helmet off his head. Their eyes locked for a moment as her arms lowered, his head still bowed slightly, and a something cryptic passed between them. She fastened the helmet to her belt, clearing her throat, then stared up at Ando, who was clawing at what little pride he had left. Vhe’dn pressed a button on her gauntlet. It lit up green.

“Okay,” Vhe’dn said. “Let’s get going.”

“Right.” Ando steeled himself. “And I’m warning you: you give me one single indication that you’re handing me over, and I’ll snap your neck. I mean it; don’t think I’m defenseless just because I don’t have a blaster.”

“Wouldn’t consider it,” Vhe’dn murmured.

They began to walk out into the clearing. The battle droids perked up immediately, holding their weapons at ready, and moving to meet them halfway. _Wayii_ , it would be so easy to just call it quits now…

“Halt!” the lead droid commanded. Vhe’dn watched the button on her gauntlet turn red.

Vhe’dn stopped, as did Ando, and she held the blaster to him.

“I’ve brought you a prisoner,” Vhe’dn stated, her voice strong. “You really shouldn’t be so sloppy about how you shoot a ship down.”

“Hold your tongue, Mandalorian,” the droid warbled. Vhe’dn repressed rolling her eyes. The command droid checked something with another member of its party.

“We’ll take him now.” The droid turned back to her. It addressed Ando. “Thought you could sneak up on us, did you, _clone?_ ”

Ando growled. “Go f-”

“If you don’t mind,” Vhe’dn interrupted loudly, “I _am_ being paid for this by your generals, and I haven't been able to replenish supplies in days to bring this scum to you.”

Ando was gritting his teeth so hard beside her that Vhe’dn could hear them grinding.

“Uh, yes, well...” the droid turned again to his comrades, bumbling around, then turned back to her. “Follow us, please.”

“Thank you,” Vhe’dn hissed.

Ando was edgy.

_We just need to get inside..._ Vhe’dn mentally pleaded for him to stay calm and not botch this.

The canted doors situated on the ground level began to slide open, and Vhe’dn followed the trail of droids down into the entrance of the base. She glanced at her gauntlet. Still red.

The doors slid shut and the corridor was bathed in an uncomfortably false and claustrophobic light. The droids clacked along the floors, and Vhe’dn followed. There was a turn up ahead. When Vhe’dn stepped around it, her gauntlet flashed back to green. She waited for all the droids to come around the corner.

“Down!” she yelled. She buried fire into the droid in front of her. Ando dropped to the ground, kicking out the legs from under two of them. Vhe’dn turned and blasted the two left standing stalled and confused, then brought the blaster around to finish off the ones on the floor. It was a matter of loud, chaotic seconds.

“Told you I’d come through,” Vhe’dn said with a grin. Ando pushed himself back up, looking a bit pale. Vhe’dn moved to get the cuffs off of him.

“Cameras?” he asked, moving to take the pack off her back.

“Not right here,” Vhe’dn said, keying at her gauntlet. “I’ve disrupted the further feeds, as well. Should be able to get around undetected if we don’t run into anything. Still, we have about as long as it takes for these guys to be found.” She waved her arm at the ground.

Ando holstered his pistols with a flare and Vhe’dn handed him his helmet. He took it and rewarded her with just barely a twitch of a smile at the side of his lips.

“Come on,” he said, pulling the helmet over his head. “Time to make this a bad day for the Seps.”


	10. Chapter 10

Vhe’dn keyed a series of commands into her gauntlet, then collapsed the holos.

“All right,” she said. “Let’s go find a port.”

She began to jog down the halls. Ando followed closely behind, adjusting his holsters. He had his misgivings about Vhe’dn, but right now, he was in an enemy base, and it was either _trust her_ or _don’t_ , and he had already made his decision.

In an odd way, he was more comfortable here than he had been the entire trek with his unsuitable companion.

“Here!” Vhe’dn stopped and dropped to one knee. She pulled a tool attached by cord from her gauntlet and shoved it in the port; it was a truncated scomp link, he realized. Information began to scroll over the screen that popped up. Vhe’dn watched it intently, twisting the link back and forth. Ando observed, enthralled.

“There,” she said, and released. She poked at a screen control, and a hologram of the facility projected from her gauntlet. Ando crouched to inspect it.

“You’re like a living astromech,” Ando complimented.

“I like to think so.”

“It’s a relatively small installation,” Ando observed, “but too big to be just a random AD tower. I’m willing to bet this is the thing that’s been jamming the Republic’s communications. The thing I was out here for in the first place.”

Vhe’dn gave him a measured look.

“The Mandalorian contract is up by now; my group won’t be in the line of fire. We could sabotage this station,” she offered. “Finish your mission.”

Ando nodded grimly, but excitement flooded his stomach. He could _end_ this stalemate, if he was right.

“In that case,” Ando said, “we’d better make our way to a control center.”

Vhe’dn grimaced as she scrolled in on the map. “Yeah,” she said, “let’s just go and find the biggest concentration of droids in the whole facility.”

“Don’t you worry about the clankers, sweetheart,” Ando muttered distractedly. _Sweetheart_ ; where had he ever picked that up from? “Leave them to me. You just concentrate on the systems.”

“Will do. We going to be sneaky about this, or are we doing this the old fashioned way?”

“Which would you prefer?”

“Well, considering I’m helmetless and we’re going to be outgunned, I’d prefer to be sneaky.” She shot him a nasty look.

Ando tilted his head at her. “I thought Mandalorians were supposed to be brave.”

Vhe’dn glared lazily at him. “Brave, yeah, foolhardy, no. Well, maybe. I’ll avoid a fight if I can, anyways; I know I’m not invincible.”

“Check for a ventilation system.”

“In a droid facility?”

“You don’t know if there aren't any wets here.”

Vhe’dn tapped a few controls and the hologram spun, highlighting a series of ducts.

Vhe’dn narrowed her eyes. “All right, so they do. This one,” she pointed at a duct, “leads us closest to the command center.”

“Perfect.”

“This place is pretty crude,” Vhe’dn remarked, flipping through holos. “They rushed the construction.”

“Good news, for once,” Ando commented.

“All right, so what are we doing?”

“We’re getting into the ducts,” Ando said, and stood.

Vhe’dn pressed a key and then pulled the scomp link out of the port. She followed after him.

“It should be right beneath us,” Vhe’dn told him.

Ando glanced around at the floor, paced over to a panel and began to pull at it. He ejected his gauntlet blade and wrenched it under the seam, levering it loose. Vhe’dn hovered over him, and he shifted the floor panel to the side. He flipped on his helmet spot lamp and shined it down into the hole.

“After you,” Vhe’dn murmured.

Ando took a breath, then dropped in. It was only about eight feet down, but as he looked around at what traveling though the vents meant, he felt his heartbeat pick up.

“Come on, get out of the way so I can follow you!” Vhe’dn hissed above him. Ando moved to the side and she dropped down. He reached around her and moved the floor panel back into place.

Ando crouched and entered the tunnel ahead of him.

“Wow, tight fit, eh?” Vhe’dn whispered.

Ando didn’t respond. He began to army crawl through the duct, trying not to concentrate on how his shoulders scraped the sides.

“You’re going to pass out if you keep breathing like that,” Vhe’dn told him.

Ando turned off his helmet’s speakers. They padded quietly along the vent until they came to a slope.

“Kriff,” Ando muttered.

“What?” Vhe’dn asked.

“Going down,” he said. “Why did we go head first?”

“So you could keep a weapon ahead of you,” Vhe’dn explained. She paused. “Your weapons are in their holsters, aren't they?”

Ando said nothing, and instead began to slide down the incline. He was afraid he would get jammed any second.

Ando heard Vhe’dn shifting around behind him. Ando attempted to keep his speed down.

“Woah, woah, _woah!_ ” Vhe’dn whispered. Ando felt her slam into his legs.

After agonizing seconds, the duct leveled off again. They continued to crawl along.

“Wait, stop,” Vhe’dn hissed. Ando heard her fumble with her gauntlet. “This is where we get off. Find a panel.”

Ando ran his glove over the seams, waiting for one to catch. He moved forward until he found one.

“Here,” he breathed. He moved past it. “Lift that one.”

He heard Vhe’dn lift it, and he held his body up for her to slide it under him as quietly as she could. Slowly, cautiously, Ando backed up feet first and dropped down out of it. He landed in a hall, one side blocked by a blast door, the other side an open entrance. He waved for Vhe’dn to follow. She slid out head first for him to catch. He caught her deftly and she winked at him as he set her down. He shook his head at her. Ando drew his pistols, keeping to the wall. Vhe’dn beat him to the open doorway. Cautiously, silently, they peered around the edge. Vhe’dn flipped back around, back to the wall. She held up her blaster.

_Ready?_ she mouthed.

“Go in straight and keep to the wall,” Ando whispered.

“No ions,” Vhe’dn instructed. Ando nodded.

Without another word needing to be said, Ando swung around into the middle of the doorway and opened fire. He saw Vhe’dn streak past, following the wall and firing at the droids. The droids scrambled around in a panicked confusion, and three dropped before they even began to return fire. Ando began to run in the opposite direction as Vhe’dn.

“Lock us down, lock us down!” a droid was screaming. “Alert for intruders!”

“ _Ando!_ ” Vhe’dn was screaming over the noise of blasters. _“Command deck!”_

“Right!” Ando said, deftly taking out the droids standing guard at the main console. An alarm sounded. Ando ducked behind an incline as return fire zipped over his head. He turned and squeezed off a few shots, catching sight of Vhe’dn blasting her way through a droid right before she threw herself behind the console, a flurry of fire following her.

Ando rolled and sprinted forward, picking off the culprit. Vhe’dn popped up and braced her blaster on the console, taking out the remaining droid to his left. An icon on Ando’s HUD flashed and he whipped his head up.  
“ _Look out!_ ” he warned, but the alarm was too loud. Vhe’dn yelled as a volley of shots rained down from above her. Ando moved his targeting retical into place with a blink and took aim at the catwalk with his pistol. He squeezed off two careful shots and the droid standing on it crumpled, falling off the walk and crashing down to the floor in parts. The firing ceased.

“Vhe’dn?” Ando called cautiously, the station alarm blaring.

Slowly, he saw her emerge from behind the console, looking unharmed. She opened a hatch and pressed a button. The alarm was replaced with silence.

“All right, let’s get to work before more show up,” Vhe’dn said. “This dump is falling apart...”

She smacked a control and the door to the room slammed shut, followed by the blast door. Another door on the opposite side of the room gave a whine.

“That looks like a back entrance to the base, conveniently enough,” Vhe’dn said, looking at the map on her gauntlet. She shoved a droid off the station’s control console. Ando paced over to her; her fingers flew over the keys. She scoffed.

“Hideous,” she murmured, and plugged a cord into a port. Ando walked up the stairs and watched the view screen on the wall shift.

“What’d you do?” he asked her.

“Just let me work,” she snapped offhandedly. She unwound another cord.

“Plug that in there,” she ordered. Ando complied, feeling his adrenaline begin to ebb. 

“Hmm...” Vhe’dn tested a few buttons. She looked at him and tapped the side of her head.

“You have the Republic’s scramble set in there, right?” she asked him.

He nodded.

“Send it to this,” she tapped her computer.

“That would give you our codes!”

Vhe’dn groaned. “Ando, _come on_ , we don’t have time for this. I’m going to send your men the bypass codes and measures, please just do it.”

Ando exhaled hard and nodded. Vhe’dn showed him something on her gauntlet and he did as instructed. She pressed a few commands on the screen, then hit a few keys on the console.

“Here they are,” Vhe’dn breathed. “Sending... _hey!_ ”

“What?”

Vhe’dn looked at him, and he didn’t like her expression.

“The Seps have no connection. They’re as blacked out as us.”

“Impossible. What does that mean?”

“It _means_ we can’t send any messages and that we can’t send your friends their communication codes,” Vhe’dn explained, frustrated. Her fingers flew over the console. “This doesn’t make any sense...”

They both looked up suddenly as a tapping began on the door.

“Fierfek...” Ando muttered, and he flew down the steps to the backdoor exit, shoving a repulsor cart out of the way.

“I’m going to try pinging the codes into space!” Vhe’dn yelled. “The Republic might catch it, and it doesn’t matter if anyone else does.”

“Vhe’dn, get this door open! Let’s go!” Ando ordered.

“Coming...” she murmured. She hit a control and paused. She hit it again. “They’ve locked the system again!”

Ando swore and ran over to the door panel, punching it with his gauntlet blade. He tore off the cover and began to rip out wires. It spat sparks.

“Ando, you’ll make it worse!”

Ando ignored her and sparked two wires together. The blast door inched open just enough to squeeze through, and the inner door inched open just barely before it stopped. Ando growled in frustration.

“Vhe’dn, get back into the system!” he yelled. There was a shrieking noise, and the opposite door began to glow at the seams. _“Now!”_

“I’m trying!”

The inner door began to slowly inch open again. Ando grabbed either side of the door and attempted to muscle it along.

Suddenly, Vhe’dn screamed. _“Ando, look out!”_

Everything went black.

**********

_“Shab!”_ Vhe’dn swore, sprinting down the stairs. _“Shab, shab,_ shab!”

“Ando!”

She fell down to her knees beside him where he lay on the floor. She gasped when she saw his face; the front of his helmet had completely shattered, eerily exposing the man’s face behind it. Ando was bloody, but recognizable, his eyes closed. Vhe’dn could clearly see the circle outline of where the pipe had come loose and smashed straight into his face. The conduit hung nearby where it had broken loose from the ceiling, throwing sparks, its stress fractures showing that it had just been waiting for an excuse to blow.

_“Ando,_ wake up, _wake up!”_ Vhe’dn begged, shaking him. She lowered her face to his, listening for breathing. A warm rush of adrenaline washed over her when she felt his breath. She straightened.

“Oh, kriff, kriff, _kriff_.” She rocked on her heel, staring around. She caught sight of the repulsor cart and scrambled to it, acutely aware of the noise taking place at the opposite door. The droids were almost through. She pushed the cart over to Ando and struggled to haul him up onto it. She panted with the effort.

“I’m sure all of those muscles are charming on a date, but for the love of _Manda_ , you weigh a _ton!_ ” Vhe’dn gasped.

She strained and managed to hoist him on part way, and rolled him on the rest. She ran back to the console.

“All right, you want to get serious, I’ll _get_ serious,” Vhe’dn growled. She ejected a small object from her gauntlet and inserted it into the console. It emitted a high-pitched squeal.

There was a loud _thunk_ and the droids blasted through the door.

“There!” one called in its whiney, electronic voice. “Get her!”

Vhe’dn raised her blaster and opened fire, sprinting over to a pile of crates. She threw herself behind them and pressed a button on her gauntlet.

There was a hideous noise and the console overloaded, the sounds of dying droids soon joining it as it traveled through the terminals, trimming their numbers. The doors wheezed open. Vhe’dn moved for Ando and took running aim, picking off a droid moving to stop her. She slammed into the cart and forced it to move up the exit hall. She could hear fire behind her, but she just ran, blindly squeezing off shots behind her.

Her boots hit dirt as she exited the upward incline, and she was met with cold, fresh air and bright light. She made for the trees, not paying attention to what was around her. She needed to put distance between her and the base. Blaster fire began to zip past her, but she just dropped her head and ignored her protesting muscles.

The explosion went off behind her, and Vhe’dn was shocked with the temperature change. She barreled into the trees. The roar was deafening, and shook the leaves around her. She kept running, the shockwaves pummeling her and threatening to push her to the ground.

The base was toast, but she kept running. She needed to get away in case there were off-post patrols nearby that would come searching.

She glanced down at Ando’s limp form.

_Please, be okay. I did not just blow my only chance at getting out of here for you to roll over now._


	11. Chapter 11

“Sir!” The trooper sprinted up to him and saluted. Sevets turned.

“Lieutenant,” he acknowledged.

“Sir.” The trooper was breathless, practically bursting. “We have communications. The comms are back up.”

Sevets’s mouth opened a fraction. He spun and began to shout orders down the lines of manned consoles. There was a flurry of action as the orders were picked up and began to travel down. The deck burst into action. Sevets stomped up to a trooper.

“Contact A-14,” he ordered bluntly.

“Yes, sir,” came the curt reply. The trooper keyed away.

“Put me through,” Sevets said.

Sevets waited, poised, hearing nothing but comm static. He waited.

Waited.

“Sir, there’s nothing,” the trooper finally said. “Beta Zone is still down.”

Sevets exhaled a tight, disappointed breath. He composed himself.

“He’s alive,” he stated. “No one else could have done it. Contact the search teams. And make sure you’re signaling the fleet for reinforcements. I want the call for evac going out at all times.”

Sevets paced away, observing the buzz and movement suddenly taking place around him. They had their purpose back.

_You did it, Ando._

Sevets began to bark orders.

**********

_Twenty minutes. A spare twenty minutes. He should have been going to grab a quick, relatively hot meal - he knew he needed it - and yet Ando found his feet taking him straight to Castilla. He had the desperate need to apologize to her. He didn't exactly know what he had done, but she had been hurt by their previous conversation, and Ando felt that he had to fix it. He just hoped that he'd know what to say._

_He came to the entrance of her home. He stood there for a while, staring at the doorway, when someone shoved him into the door jam from behind. He swung his head around to look. Damper just winked at him and continued past. Ando sighed._

_“Castilla?” he called. “You there?”_

_“Ando?” came her soft reply._

_“Yes, ma'am.”_

_“Come on in.”_

_Castilla bustled around, her many head tails swinging, bringing cups of tea to the table. She indicated with a small smile for him to sit. He did, and helped himself to the snacks laid out before him. Castilla sat across from him, staring at him with those large, black eyes. Feeling scrutinized, Ando paused._

_“Um…” he began._

_“Ando, you don't have to say anything,” Castilla dismissed with her song-like voice. She stared down into her cup, fingering the handle. “I understand why you were upset.”_

_Ando hadn't expected that and didn't know how to respond. Castilla looked up and stared at him, collected._

_“It's not fair of me to expect you to deal with anything more than you already have to work on.”_

_Ando sat silent for a few moments, then said to his cup, “You know, ma'am, I did come here to apologize, but you're making it difficult for me.”_

_“It's okay, Ando…”_

_“No,” Ando interrupted firmly. “It's_ not _okay, and I know it.”_

_Castilla surprised him by smiling. Her eyes sparkled. He wished he knew more about the subtleties of Nautolan expression._

_“I'm a big girl, sweetheart,” she teased._ Sweetheart; _why did she always call him that? “Really, it's okay. I'm already over it.”_

_Ando was silent. Castilla laughed softly._

_“You're adorable, Ando…”_

**********

Ando woke suddenly with a sharp intake of breath, and was immediately bombarded by a splitting headache. He swore.

“That's quite a colorful expletive.”

Ando jumped, startled, as Vhe'dn spoke from where she was sitting very close beside him. He fumbled to push himself upright from where he lay on the ground, but his vision honeycombed and he fell back down. He groaned.

“What happened?” he slurred, grabbing his head.

“You took a pipe to the face,” Vhe'dn explained casually; Ando was aware of her tugging on him, and he accepted her help to sit and prop his back up against the fallen tree behind them. He groggily covered his face with his hands, rubbing, then gasped loudly, tearing them away from his face in shock as it erupted into blinding pain.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Vhe’dn said, taking his hands away. “Um... you’re pretty badly torn up.”

“What. Happened?” Ando demanded, each word a sharp, separate statement. He was overwhelmed with a multitude of pains. He fought to keep still, his body telling him to writhe and cry. It hurt to even move his lips to speak.

_“Udesii!_ ” Vhe’dn implored. “Please, just calm down, it’s not that bad. You know who you are right?”

“Advance Recon Commando Ay One Four...” he responded deliriously; the light hurt his eyes, and his vision wouldn’t quite focus. He realized one of his eyes was almost completely swollen shut.

“Good, and you know who I am?”

“An annoying shoulder growth?” he fired without thinking.

“Yeah, you’re all right,” Vhe’dn’s smile was evident in her voice. He looked over at her.

“Stop scowling,” she told him. “It’ll only hurt.”

_“Tell me what happened!”_ Ando regretted raising his voice instantly. He clutched at his head. “Sharp...” he moaned, sliding down the tree.

“All right, all right...” He heard Vhe’dn digging. She placed a sharp in his hand and he wasted no time in stabbing it into his neck. He glanced at Vhe’dn. She was grimacing.

“Do I really look that bad?”

“Well, that’s not really what I meant,” Vhe’dn began, “but honestly, I think it’s an improvement.”

Ando scoffed breathlessly, begging the sharp to kick in faster.

“All right,” Vhe’dn began, shifting so she could look at him. She took a deep inhale, then rattled, “The facility was extremely poorly put together, like I said. A pipe came loose and caught you in the face. It shattered your helmet, and you’ll have one hell of a scar when it heals. I blew up the station and wheeled you out on a repulsor cart. Now, don’t panic; I cleaned you up and the damage isn’t as disfiguring as you’d think.” Vhe’dn had the nerve to laugh. “I even put your nose back where it belonged… I think… when you were asleep, so you wouldn’t have to find out what that feels like. And! You have all your teeth, still. That’s good, right?”

Ando gaped at her.

“Please, don’t panic.” She put up submissive palms.

“You blew up the station,” Ando repeated, unbelieving, “and wheeled me out on a _repulsor cart?_ ”

“Fancy, hm?”

Ando breathed out heavily and slumped.

“Thanks,” he said softly, overwhelmed.

Vhe’dn smiled warmly, happy with herself. “I do believe I remember you taking care of your own concussion patient. I owed you.”

“Hardly,” Ando muttered. He looked at her balefully. “How bad is it?” he asked, referring to the damage on his face.

Vhe’dn sighed. “Well, it’s here,” she indicated her upper lip, “here,” she indicated across her nose, “here,” her brow, “and _here_ ,” an arc across her forehead, “all on the left side like that. It’d look better with stitches, but I don’t know how.”

“I do,” Ando said. He pushed himself up straighter. “You ready?”

Vhe’dn narrowed her eyes at him. “For what?”

“You’re going to learn how to stitch.”

“Oh no,” Vhe’dn laughed. “No, no, no, no, no. No _way._ ”

Ando smiled a wicked little smile, as much as he could muster with his throbbing face.

“Okay, we’re going to need the needle, the twine, some disinfectant, and how about you pass me another sharp...”

**********

Vhe’dn looked positively queasy.

“I am never going to forgive you for making me do this,” she groaned, pulling on the needle. “What if I screw up?”

“You’ll do fine,” Ando reassured her. He felt odd; the pain was intense, but he felt like he was grasping lazily at the tendrils of acknowledging it. The sharps had definitely kicked in. His face was so numb that he could hardly feel it when Vhe’dn’s fingers brushed his lips.

He started chuckling.

“And what, may I ask,” Vhe’dn griped, concentrated on her work, “is so funny?”

Ando found that he couldn’t stop.

“It hurts!” he laughed, his eyes beginning to tear up. Vhe’dn raised her eyebrows.

“Oh, yeah, I can see how that would be hilarious...” she mumbled sarcastically.

Ando snatched her hand and she gave him an odd stare.

“What are those?” he asked her, indicating the back of her hand.

_“Tattoos?”_ She shook her head at him. “Ando, would you calm down and just let me finish this? I don’t exactly enjoy this. You overdid it on the drugs.”

Ando sighed and released her hand.

“Sorry,” he said. “Trying to concentrate on anything besides how you are sewing through open wound and bruise.”

Vhe’dn tugged on the thread. “You want to add vomit to that mix?”

“Sorry.”

Vhe’dn continued stitching in silence.

“You’re lucky that you had that helmet to take most of the blow,” Vhe’dn commented, eyes fixed on his face. “Split skin could have been a dental job and a coma. Wouldn’t want to ruin those perfect teeth of yours.”

Ando scrubbed the back of his head, then reached down and shifted where his upper body armor plates laid stacked on the ground beside him, finnicking.

“I would have preferred none of it,” he remarked.

“That goes without saying,” Vhe’dn said. “But who knows. If it heals well, the scarring might look _dashing._ ”

Ando grimaced at her. Vhe’dn shrugged.

“Just saying,” she defended.

Ando hissed as the needle passed through a particularly tender area.

“Sorry,” Vhe’dn apologized. “I’m almost done.”

“There,” she said, and cut the thread. She rocked back on her heels, looking over her work. Ando waited.

“Well, it’s way better than before,” she remarked.

Vhe’dn snatched up a rag, soaked it in disinfectant, and offered it to him. Ando took it and dabbed it all over his face.

“I’m sure you’ll look much better once the swelling goes down.”

“You don’t have to keep reassuring me,” Ando mumbled from behind the rag. When he moved it, Vhe’dn was staring sympathetically at him.

“Come on, you’re making me feel worse.”

“Sorry.” Vhe’dn looked away.

She stood and rinsed off her hands, pulling her gloves and gauntlets back on. Ando watched her closely. He sighed heavily, his head fuzzy, and rolled his neck; it was stiff from being snapped back.

“What happened after I was knocked out?” Ando asked, slouching down against the tree. “Was going there a complete waste?”

Vhe’dn sat down across from him.

“I don’t know yet,” she sighed. “We still don’t have comms, I checked. I don’t know about the rest of the planet; I pinged out the codes randomly, but I don’t know if they were picked up. _This_ area, though, is still black. That, I know.”

Ando nodded grimly.

“We need to keep going,” Vhe’dn continued, “but right now you need to rest and get over those drugs. We can just hope, for your buddies’ sakes, that they managed to pick up those codes.” Vhe’dn shook her head. “I did what I could.”

“No,” Ando interjected, “you did well.”

Ando paused, formulating groggy words in his mind, trying to make sure he wouldn’t say anything he would regret when the painkillers wore off. He took a shaky breath.

“Thanks for not leaving me behind there,” he said. “Thanks for the help.”

Vhe’dn smiled. “Trust me now?”

Ando gave her a wry expression. “Maybe.”

“I suppose I can deal with that.”

“You know, I wasn’t expecting much of… anything you are, from a Mandalorian,” Ando commented.

Vhe’dn gave him a curious expression.

“I didn’t expect much from you either, Ando,” she said softly. “But look where we are now.”

Ando fell silent, pondering.


	12. Chapter 12

“Well, if you could see it, the swelling has gone down almost completely,” Vhe’dn commented.

Ando nodded soberly, but Vhe’dn could tell he was in a good mood. Maybe it was the painkillers and maybe it was just him trying to keep his head under the stress of not knowing what to do or where to go next, but either way, Ando was either relaxed, or feigning relaxation very well. He lounged against the tree; every time he tried to stand, he said his sight would go black and he would start to buckle. Vhe’dn didn’t know whether to be concerned about it or not, but Ando seemed relatively jovial, so she tried not to concentrate on it too much.

“All right, let’s play an age old warrior pastime,” Vhe’dn said, shifting in front of him with a smile. “ ‘How’d You Get That Scar.’ ”

Ando narrowed his eyes at her.

“You made that up.”

“Gee, could you tell? You going to cooperate or not?”

“All right.”

“Okay,” Vhe’dn said. She pointed at the back of his currently bare hand. “How about that one?”

“Field shrapnel,” Ando said.

“Okay. _Please_ , go easier on the details next time; not sure I could handle that riveting tale.”

Ando looked over her face.

“You don’t have any scars,” he commented.

“Astute observation.”

“Okay, then, how did you get that tattoo on your back?”

Ando surprised her. She laughed.

“You saw that?” She rubbed her neck. “How do you think I got it? I paid someone to put it there.”

A few minutes passed of story exchanging. Vhe’dn reached up and poked at a small scar on Ando’s jaw line.

“And this one?” she asked.

Ando smiled sheepishly. “Shaving.”

They chuckled softly. Vhe’dn drew her hand away from his face, the moment growing a bit too intense for her.

Ando seemed to be considering something. He spoke.

“How old are you, Vhe’dn?”

Vhe’dn perked up at the question. “Does it matter?”

Ando shrugged innocently. “Just curious.”

Vhe’dn squinted her eyes at him, but Ando just stared calmly back. She didn’t get anything from his eyes. She relented.

“I’m seventeen,” she said. Ando just raised his eyebrows a hair as if considering the response. “You can’t be much older,” she continued in defense.

Humor lit Ando’s face and he let out a harsh laugh that made his arms, crossed over his chest, rise and fall.

“Not exactly...” he said. He uncrossed his arms and pushed himself into a more upright position, casually resting his elbows on the log behind him. Vhe’dn bristled.

“What?” she huffed. “You just look young for your age?”

“Not _exactly_ ,” Ando just repeated, the smile he was trying to hide behind biting the sides of his pointer finger telling her that he was laughing at her expense. Vhe’dn decided to play along.

“Um... twenty-five?” she guessed.

“No.”

_“Thirty?”_

“You’re getting farther off.”

“Twenty-two?”

“Technically,” he said. He was playing her. There was a twinkle in Ando’s eye; he was clearly enjoying himself. Vhe’dn felt a reluctant smile reach her lips as well.

“What the hell does that mean?” she laughed.

“Younger,” Ando directed.

“Twenty.”

“Younger.”

Vhe’dn gave him an expression that said she didn’t believe him. Ando shrugged in response.

_“Seriously?”_ she asked.

“Seriously,” Ando assured her with put on enthusiasm.

“Nineteen.”

“Younger.”

_“Eighteen?”_

“Younger,” Ando trilled. He was grinning, at this point, as best he could with stitches in his lip.

Vhe’dn gaped.

“You’re messing with me...”

Ando shrugged toyingly. “I’m not.”

“You _can’t_ be seventeen.”

“Nope.”

“Ando, stop playing me!” Vhe’dn burst. She leapt up to smack a fist against him. Ando laughed and blocked her hands. She fell back down beside him.

“All right, all right...” Ando laughed, shifting to face her. He breathed in, suddenly very calm and said, “I’m eleven years old.”

Ando looked at her expectantly. Slowly, she scowled.

“You’re a bastard, you know that?” she said darkly.

“For me, that would be a luxury,” Ando said. Vhe’dn had difficulty placing his emotion.

There was a beat as they stared each other down.

Finally, Vhe’dn grinned. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”

The side of Ando’s lips tugged upward. “Maybe.”

“Now come on, seriously; how old are you?”

Ando sighed suddenly and rocked, facing away from her again, slouching heavily against the log. “I really wasn’t lying,” he said, suddenly very devoid of humor. He paused. “I’m twenty-two years old.”

He was staring ahead of himself, at nothing in particular. A small, sad smile touched Vhe’dn’s lips. “That’s so young,” she said softly, moving closer to him. “You should be out chasing girls at this age, not fighting this war.”

Ando turned his head to look her straight in the eye. She couldn’t place what the look meant. Worry? “I could say the same about you.”

Vhe’dn raised an eyebrow. “That I should be out chasing girls?”

Ando’s mouth opened a fraction.

“No, I- that’s not what I meant.” He pushed himself up taller against the log, looking away for a moment, then turned his head again to meet her eyes.

Vhe’dn’s emotion dimmed to something more serious. She put a hand on his shoulder. “I have a choice to fight, Ando. If I wanted to be out chasing prospective partners, I could be. But I chose to make some credits instead.”

Ando paused, then reached up and took her hand off his shoulder.

“I’m eleven years old, Vhe’dn,” he stated very seriously. Vhe’dn squinted her eyes at him. “For all intents and purposes, yes, physically, I’m twenty-two. The Kaminoans altered clone DNA so that we would grow to full physical and mental maturity in the course of ten years. We age twice as fast as normal humans. I’m eleven,” he repeated, touching the palm of his free hand to his chest.

Vhe’dn stared at him, but she could feel a subtle expression of horror slowly forming across her face. She was wearing gloves, but where Ando held her hand felt like a burn. She put a little pressure into pulling it away and she felt Ando relinquish his hold.

She didn’t look at him. “Does the aging process stop when you reach… _peak maturity_?” she asked, using the crass scientific term, already fearing the answer.

Vhe’dn could feel Ando’s eyes on her, so she looked at him again.

“No,” he stated simply. The single, bitter syllable felt like a punch.

“You mean...” Vhe’dn stumbled over her words and emotions, “you’re....” She stopped and breathed in and out once. “You’re _eleven?_ ” she repeated, at a loss.

Ando nodded grimly, looking grizzly in his stitches, and looked away from her.

“Wow,” Vhe’dn whispered, looking at the ground. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what I _should_ say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” Ando spoke at the ground. “I knew you wouldn’t like it.” Vhe’dn looked at him, and could see his shell hardening.

“Wow,” she said. She laughed softly, shaking her head. “I’m _older_ than you. Funny turn of events.”

Ando looked at her with a small grimace. Vhe’dn laughed. Finally, Ando caved and joined her, laughing breathy little laughs. Neither really knew what they were laughing for.

**********

It had grown dark about two hours before, and yet Ando sat up cleaning the blasters. They didn't exactly need to be cleaned, but cleaning them was therapeutic, and as Ando was beginning to feel the restlessness of inaction, he kept his hands busy.

Tentatively, he ran a finger over the wound on his forehead. His finger rose and fell over the raised skin.

He glanced over at Vhe'dn, who laid curled up on the ground, asleep. Her breath puffed out periodically as little bursts of fog. She looked exhausted; darkened rings had begun to form around her eyes, replacing the kohl make up that had long ago washed off. Ando tried not to think about how bad he looked in comparison. He looked back to his blaster.

Ando knew, and he knew Vhe’dn knew, too, that if they didn’t find some way to comm someone, or someone didn’t find them soon, that they would be in trouble. Ando didn’t mention it, but the rations were almost gone; he knew from the way Vhe’dn looked at him, though, that she could tell. She hadn’t said anything. She hadn’t thrown a fit or panicked. Ando was afraid he’d beat her to it.

He sighed, and laid the blaster on the ground. He watched Vhe’dn for a while, until he found that he couldn’t keep his head from nodding. He submitted to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Ando picked at the shattered remains of his helmet. Where the visor should have been, a large, jagged hole filled its place. It was sobering to consider what the pipe would have done to his face if it had not been there to cushion the impact. He prodded at his stitches.

“Quit poking those,” Vhe’dn complained. “You’re not proving anything.”

Ando set his helmet down and addressed her.

“I don’t feel so dizzy today,” he commented.

“Good,” Vhe’dn murmured, tapping away on her gauntlet.

Ando sat silent for a moment.

“Why are you helping me, Vhe’dn?” he asked, all seriousness.

Vhe’dn glanced at him from over her screen.

“So I can make it out of here alive.” She shrugged off the question.

“It would have been far easier to just let the droids take me away and then call your friends,” Ando said, refusing to let her drop it.

“Look, Ando, I- ”

Ando cut her off, throwing a hand up suddenly. Vhe’dn stopped talking.

“You hear that?” he whispered.

A quiet _clack clack clack._

Droids.

Ando’s hands traveled to his holsters. He watched as Vhe’dn’s hand snaked over to her own weapon. Her fist tightened around the blaster. Her other hand made its way to grasp the pack. He stared hard into her eyes.

_Run_ , he mouthed.

Vhe’dn nodded, and without another word, they sprang up and sprinted into the trees. Blaster fire erupted behind them, along with the whining orders of battle droids. As Ando leapt over foliage, his vision began to blur and darken; he could feel his heartbeat in his temples.

_Oh, bad idea,_ he thought. _Just stay upright. Don’t fall. Move. Move, move, move..._

Ando couldn’t tell if he was running straight or if he was running at the ground. His shoulder burned, _why did his shoulder burn?_ Slowly, his vision and hearing began to swim back into focus. He was unsteady, but he was upright and moving. He saw Vhe’dn running off to the side of him and squeezed off a few defensive shots aimed behind him. He came to a larger tree and put his back to it, then turned around and fired. He pressed his back against it for the return fire. His legs felt like jelly.

“Ando!” Vhe’dn was shouting to his left, but it sounded like it was coming through a tunnel. He turned to look at her. She fired off a few shots around the tree, then pressed flat against it. “Get ready to go!”

“What?” Ando was acutely aware of his own uneven breathing rattling in his ears. He was sweating.

Instead of answering, Vhe’dn reached into the pack and lobbed something around the tree with all her might. She started running, and Ando sprinted after her without hesitation. There was a muted _thwump_ behind him and a flash of bright light lit up the trees. _Ion grenade_. Even though the blaster fire stopped, neither of them stopped running. All Ando could hear was his ragged breathing echoing in his head and the far away sound of foliage crunching under his feet. The forest kept thickening until he couldn’t see a meter ahead of himself. He didn’t know how long they had been running. He lost sight of Vhe’dn.

“Vhe’dn?” he called. No answer. _“Vhe’dn?”_

Ando suddenly broke through the trees into a clearing and was met with a blaster pointed straight at his head. He inhaled a little startled breath and instinctively brought his own weapons up to bare.

“Just drop them, Ando.”

He looked over to the left where Vhe’dn stood with her hands raised in surrender, a gritted expression on her face as she stared down a similar blaster. Ando looked around to see dozens of armed humanoids poised to fire. He hesitated.

“Ando,” Vhe’dn urged. She was getting harder to hear. Everything was so foggy...

“Ando?” It sounded like Vhe’dn was shouting through a tube. _“Ando!”_

He was falling.

**********

Ando groaned and opened his eyes.

“You’re making a habit of this, aren't you?” came a humorous voice to his right. “You fainted.”

Slowly, he turned his head, and Vhe’dn came into a fuzzy focus above him, her dark, matted hair forming a frame around her face.

“Should I ask what happened?” Ando mumbled. He was in a room, he observed, and whatever he was laying on was sinfully comfortable.

“You’re not dead,” Vhe’dn shrugged. “In fact, you’re being taken care of, if you would believe it.”

Ando looked around the room. It was a crudely simple dwelling, thatched and primitive, but it was warm and boasted craftsmanship. He felt that his body suit was missing from the waist up.

“Where are we?” he questioned tentatively.

“We’re in a native village. Those people who jumped us were some of its residents,” Vhe’dn explained.

“Why?”

“Why’d they jump us? Because we’re in a war zone,” Vhe’dn explained. She seemed suddenly excited and lowered her voice, dropping her face closer to his. “Ando, they know all about the Separatist base; _they’re_ the ones blocking the communications in this area; they were doing it so they weren’t discovered.”

Ando went to push himself upright, suddenly very interested, then hissed and fell as his right shoulder began to burn. Vhe’dn reached out to help him; her gauntlets were missing. Where the blanket had slipped off him, Ando now saw the bandages around his bare shoulder.

“You got clipped when we were running,” Vhe’dn said, helping to prop him up. “You must not have noticed it when it happened.”

“No, I remember,” Ando said.

Ando looked around the room as if analyzing it for threat. He addressed Vhe’dn in a muted tone.

“Are we allowed to leave?”

Vhe’dn stared at him in all seriousness. “No. Technically, they aren’t being hostile, but no, we can’t just go.”

She showed him her arms with a grim smile.

“Took my gaunts again,” she commented.

Ando nodded.

“Did they patch me up?” he asked, touching the bandages.

“Yes,” Vhe’dn said. “Got some proper help for the, uh, face, too, so you shouldn’t be so dizzy anymore. They said you don’t have any serious lasting head trauma.”

“We’ve got to convince them to let us contact someone,” Ando said. “They seem… reasonable, at least.”

Vhe’dn nodded.

“They-”

She stopped suddenly as three beings entered the dwelling. Her hand instinctively went out to rest on Ando’s forearm in a protective gesture as she shifted to face them. Ando pushed himself up to sit straight.

“You’re up, I see,” the man who was clearly the one in charge spoke, addressing Ando. He seemed firm, no-nonsense, but nothing in his stature suggested he was cruel. “How are you?”

“Better,” Ando said, on-edge but portraying calm. “Thank you for the medical attention, sir.”

The man nodded. He was dressed simply and functionally in skins.

“I can tell that you are probably not a man of excess pleasantries,” the man said, pacing into the room, “so I won’t hound you with them. My name is Bakari. You are a soldier with the Republic?”

“Yes; Lieutenant designation Ay One Four,” Ando stated. He noticed that while the two beings flanking him were carrying weapons, Bakari was not.

“What were you doing out here with...” he glanced at Vhe’dn with distaste, “...a Mandalorian?”

Ando spoke before Vhe’dn could.

“Vhe’dn is an ally,” he said. The words felt strange in his mouth, but stranger yet that they felt true. “I was out here looking for the Separatist base that was blocking our communications.” Lying wouldn’t do him any good. Ando felt that Bakari already knew all of this.

“And?”

“And, I was successful.” It’s all he said.

“So, what are you still doing here?” Bakari was testing him.

Ando played along. “My _partner_ and I are still not able to send communications, and are stranded here.”

Bakari said nothing for a moment.

Ando continued. “Is there any way that we could contact someone to come retrieve us? We have no intention of involving you or causing you trouble.”

“You think you have not already brought war to our doorsteps? Don’t think I have any positive feelings towards the Republic. They are burning up our forests as sure as the Separatists are,” Bakari said darkly, moving to exit. Ando sprung up, and was relieved when he didn’t fall back down.

“Sir, please,” he reasoned. Vhe’dn had stood up beside him. “Do you really plan to attempt to keep us hostage here?”

“I _plan_ to let you go,” Bakari said, his escorts on edge.

“Back into the forest?” Ando asked. “We’ll die.”

“It’s not my problem.”

“We _destroyed_ that station,” Ando exclaimed, brandishing an arm. “The droid patrols were practically skimming the perimeter of your village. They would have found you eventually. I don’t know how much you know about Separatist treatment of civilians, but _I_ know, and trust me, you don’t want to see their _hospitality_.”

“And why would they treat us any differently than your own forces? You’re both invaders to us,” Bakari accused.

“No one knew this planet was populated,” Vhe’dn stepped in. “Are you really condemning us to death?”

_“No,”_ Bakari snapped darkly. “I’m _not_.” He breathed a deep, discontented breath. “It doesn’t really doesn’t matter what I want, does it? The fighting here will end when _you_ will it.”

Ando stared the man down with a grim expression. “I can’t promise you anything. But I will talk to command.”

Bakari nodded, burdened. “You can contact your friends, and you can leave. Don’t expect this sort of treatment again if you show up here.”

He looked around.

“I’ll send someone to come get you soon,” he finished, and ducked out, his escorts following.

Ando stood looking at the doorway in silence, feeling an odd sort of failure. He suddenly felt Vhe’dn lay her hand on his naked back; her fingers were icy cold, and it jumped him back into the moment. He unclenched his fists and looked over his shoulder at her. She just stared at him, her sharp orange eyes as drilling as ever. He sighed and sat back down onto the cot. Vhe’dn bustled around and laid the rest of his body suit on his lap.

“It’s cold outside,” she said. “Better get ready.”

This mission was coming to an end, and yet Ando didn’t feel the relief he thought he should.


	14. Chapter 14

Contacting the rest of the army went off without a hitch, if Ando discounted what Sevets had threatened to do to him for “scaring him like that.” Ando knew it was all bravado; Sevets was just worried.

Vhe’dn and Ando now wandered aimlessly through the small village, free, but observed. Children kept coming over to inspect their armor, giggling and running circles around them. Ando found it all rather overwhelming, but Vhe’dn seemed thrilled to show them how everything worked. He wished she wouldn’t test the limits of their welcome. Ando was a child not so long ago, and yet he was finding it difficult to draw parallels between himself and the chaotic beings around him. They scattered suddenly in a flurry of movement and gleeful noise.

The pair kept wandering, waiting for their respective parties to come retrieve them, until they eventually came to sit on the stoop of the enclosure they had been detained in, watching a celebration unfold before them, despite their presence. It was someone’s birthday, or something of the like, and the whole village seemed poised to make it a memorable one. It was so different from how people treated each other on urban planets.

Ando had never celebrated a birthday.

He felt strange. Evening had fallen and there was a finality to it that left him almost remorseful, but he didn’t know what for. Vhe’dn, beside him, seemed wistful. They sat in silence for a while, watching the people dance. Finally, Vhe’dn spoke.

“This mission didn’t exactly turn out the way I thought it would,” she said slowly. 

Ando looked over and down at her. She smiled sadly; why was she sad? They had lived, and she was going free. Ando didn’t respond, though, because in a way he couldn’t explain, he was sad, too.

They sat in silence again.

“Do you dance?” Vhe’dn asked suddenly, her voice quizzical. Ando looked at her; she was staring at the people.

“Certain melee forms are considered dances,” Ando responded.

Vhe’dn chuckled. She gave him a look over, then stood, standing in front of him. She indicated for him to join her with a jerk of her fingers.

Ando hesitated. “We shouldn’t disturb them…”

“Come on,” she said, not listening to his protests.

He did, following her to the outskirts of where people were dancing. The song was something calmly upbeat. Vhe’dn took his hands, and he fell into step easily enough, if not tentatively.

“See, you’re not that bad.”

“I have excellent coordination,” he stated with a serious face, but he was joking around. He was happy when it elicited a laugh from her.

“Charming,” she cooed.

Ando pondered on how ridiculous they must have looked, in almost full armor. Vhe’dn stared up at him; Ando became suddenly self-conscious of how hideous the stitches and bruises on his face must have been.

Vhe’dn didn’t seem to notice.

“Sev sounded like a character,” Vhe’dn commented, referring to Ando’s conversation with his commander. She pulled away slightly so she could see him better. “That was what you called him, right?”

“Sevets,” Ando corrected. He _had_ called him Sev, but Sevets would probably have pummeled anyone else who called him by his pet name; he only barely tolerated Ando calling him that as it was.

“Oh,” Vhe’dn said. “Please don’t tell me he’s actually going to do all that to you...”

“No,” Ando gave a hard, flat chuckle. “He never means any of that.”

“He’s a clone, too?”

“Uh huh. We grew up together.”

“Well, good, because if that’s how they actually ran this army, I might have had a reason to be ticked off about it.” The sarcasm was thick in her tone.

Ando cocked an eyebrow at her.

Then there was the distinctive _guh-guh-guh_ sound of an approaching gunship, and Ando looked into the sky. He felt Vhe’dn let go of him, and he looked back to her. She retreated rapidly away from him.

“Hold on, where are you going?” he called, the gunship louder now and beginning to block out other sounds.

Vhe’dn spun around, moving backwards.

“Staying out of the Republic’s way!” she yelled, winking at him with an odd smile on her face. The gunship appeared overhead, whipping up dust around him.

“Oh, and Ando!”

Ando looked to Vhe’dn one last time, almost out of sight. Her chopped hair flattened to her forehead with the wind.

“It’s ‘Vhe!’ ” she shouted. “My friends call me ‘Vhe!’ ”

With that, she disappeared into the village.

Slightly thrown, Ando hesitated, then ran to meet the gunship. The villagers had moved to the edges of the homes.

“Come on, Lieutenant!” a trooper from inside the bay doors shouted, extending a hand to him. “Rapid bang out, we’ve got a battle to finish!”

Ando ran and grasped the man’s forearm. He was hauled inside.

“Grab onto something, Ando, I’m not dropping back down to get you again if you fall out!”

_That_ put a smile on Ando’s face.

“Damper...” He smiled brightly, addressing the pilot.

“Fierfek, Ando, did an animal chew you up and spit you out?” Damper yelled over the noise. “What the hell happened to your face?”

“No worse off than yours, Damper,” Ando fired.

“Yeah, regardless, _hold on_ , your face isn’t looking like it can take _two_ hits. Might be able to give me a run for my money, then.” The ship began to take off and Ando reached up to latch onto a handle.

“What money?” Ando asked. He was grinning.

Damper laughed.

“Good to see you, too.”

Vhe’dn couldn’t help but flash across his mind, and Ando found himself staring out the doors into the trees long after the village was out of sight.

**********

“Hey, Bez...” Vhe’dn said huskily, embracing her friend as she reached her. Their armor clacked together. Bez pulled back to look her over, assessing her for injury. She tapped one of Vhe’dn’s curls.

“Nice haircut,” Bez commented.

Vhe’dn grinned. “Yeah, it hurt.”

Bez softened.

“Come on; Cajul is getting frantic,” Bez said, jerking her head toward the ship. They began to walk for it, Bez’s arm over her shoulder.

“Come on, you were worried, too,” Vhe’dn teased.

Bez looked calm, collected, like she usually did, staring ahead at the ship.

“Of course I was,” she dismissed. “We all were.”

They made their way into the ship and up to the cockpit.

_“Vhe’dn!”_

Vhe’dn stood up straight and submitted to Cajul’s bone-crushing hug.

“Your _ba’buir_ would have killed me!” he laughed, scrubbing her head.

“Glad to know you care about me,” Vhe’dn grimaced, pushing him away to fix her hair out of her face.

“Where’s your helmet, Vhe?” Cajul rambled on excitedly, looking her over exactly how Bez had.

“Gone,” Vhe’dn stated. “Have to get a new one.”

“What happened there, Vhe?” Bez asked, concerned.

“Let’s take off first,” Vhe’dn said. “These people aren’t too fond of us.”

“On it,” Cajul stated, scrambling into the pilot’s seat. Bez strapped into the copilot’s chair with a deal more restraint, and Vhe’dn took the spare.

They entered space, then hyperspace, and Bez stood again.

“Now, will you tell us what the hell happened?” she asked.

Vhe’dn took a deep breath, then started.

“There was an ARC trooper...”


	15. Epilogue

It had been about three or four standard hours since they had entered hyperspace. Vhe’dn relaxed in the cabins, in a simple drab green flight suit, never more thankful to be showered and clean in her life. She was exhausted; she had tried to sleep, but her mind kept drifting. She rubbed the bottoms of her feet on the mattress, relishing being off them.

Restless, Vhe’dn rolled over pressed the comm system.

Bez answered. “Yeah? Need anything, Vhe?”

“Where’s work taking you guys next?” Vhe’dn asked her.

“Kuat. Why? You want in?”

“ _Perfect_ ,” Vhe’dn said. “Actually, I was wondering if I could snag a ride to Coruscant.”

“Coruscant, huh? What’s going on there?”

Vhe’dn relaxed into the pillows.

“I met someone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaand, that's it for Part One! Part Two starts soon. :) Thanks for any and all reviews.


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